Sakura Trees
by Silent Angel
Summary: -COMPLETE- AU It's said that the blossoms of the Sakura tree are most most beautiful where many people have died, because their blood stains the petals redder than that of the other trees. (starts at manga chapter 218)
1. I

"Sakura, you have a mission. It's a B-rank assassination."  
  
The pink-haired girl's eyes widened, their green color darkening for a moment in fear and uncertainty. "B? Aren't assassinations usually only for ANBU or really high-level jounins?"  
  
Her instructor nodded, but added nothing else. After a few seconds had passed, he turned to leave, hoping she would leave it at that and not make him explain anymore. She could, after all, go to the Hokage for the rest of the information, although it wouldn't be anywhere near as accurate as if she asked him.  
  
"Wait, who are the rest of my teammates? Who are we assassinating?"  
  
And of course it would be him that she asked. He was her instructor, and he was the one she would want her instructions from. Kakashi once again faced her, his one visible eye showing none of his usual laid-back attitude. "You have no teammates." He handed her a folder full of pictures and maps and other vital information before that news could sink in. "And Sakura? The girl will ask you a question if she knows what you're there to do. She'll offer you enough to make Sasuke return if he finds out. She'll offer you enough to make even Orochimaru want your power, but be careful. It comes at a great price. If you say no, the assassination becomes vital – you must do it or die trying." He smiled slightly. "Good luck," he whispered, and disappeared in a whirlwind of leaves.  
  
Sakura stepped back, shaking her head. Alone? How could she do a mission – A B-rank mission – alone? She backed up even further, going faster now, thoughts flying through her mind. Assassination? There must be some mistake – this was Haruno Sakura he was talking about. Sakura who was always watching others' backs no matter how hard she tried. Sakura who couldn't even stop her team from falling apart after the attack on Konoha. She stopped. This was Sakura who finally had a chance to bring Sasuke back. She started to run, heading back to her house to pack. Whatever the price was, she would take what the girl offered, and bring back her teammates.  
  
Kakashi watched from a rooftop and sighed. He already knew what choice his last remaining student would make – had known ever since Sasuke had disappeared, and maybe even before then. The gray-haired man stood and walked away. He would miss her, but it was for the best.  
  
Within a month, the Haruno Sakura he'd known would be no more, but maybe that wasn't as bad as it sounded.  
  
Sakura frowned as she studied her information. According to the photos, the girl standing just a few feet away, completely unaware that she could die any second, was the one to be assassinated. Sakura glanced back at the packet regarding why the girl had to be killed, brow furrowed in confusion. Apparently the girl was a demon of some sort, and in the photos she looked it: long teeth and an expression of pure fury on her face. However, the girl in front of her had none of these things. She was pale, with her brown hair reaching her thighs in a messy braid. She was singing random bits of songs, switching when she hit a wrong note, and that combined with her innocent expression and outfit – shorts and a too big T-shirt – made the girl seem nothing like a demon and more like a child.  
  
"So what d'ya want?"  
  
Sakura blinked. Maybe the girl wasn't as oblivious as she seemed. Sighing, she stood up and walked out from her cover in the bushes of the surrounding forest. At least the location of the house seemed demony enough, being in the middle of nowhere as it was. "My name is Haruno Sakura. Would you be Sonoda Aki?"  
  
Aki blinked and nodded. "Yea, why?"  
  
Before Aki could react, Sakura threw a kunai at her throat. A second later, she felt it pressed against her own throat and winced. Hopefully Kakashi knew what he was talking about, because while Sasuke and Naruto could probably have gotten out of such a situation, she certainly couldn't.  
  
"You were sent to kill me? By whom?" the girl hissed, no longer sounding the least bit innocent.  
  
Sakura hesitated. Although it was Konoha village that was paying her for this mission, it seemed only one person knew anything about it other than the Hokage. All the information had been gathered by. . . . "Hatake Kakashi."  
  
Immediately Aki spun her around, studying Sakura closely. "You don't look like the type. . . ." she mumbled. Sakura stood as still as she could, hoping that it was a good thing Aki wasn't seeing whatever it was she was searching for. Finally, after a good three minutes, the demon pushed Sakura away. "Go away. You're too innocent – what need to you have of strength?"  
  
Sakura's eyes narrowed. She knew she looked that way, but still . . . how dare she judge her just like that. "Kakashi said you would offer me power enough to bring back Sasuke. I will have that power, even if I have to take it from you after you're dead."  
  
Aki looked as surprised to hear the venom in Sakura's voice as Sakura was. Then the surprise faded into satisfaction. Aki smiled wickedly, no longer seeming either like the naïve child she'd been earlier or the monster of just a few seconds ago. Instead she was now exactly as Sakura imagined a demon should look if it was in human form: dark, with a touch of insanity flavoring her features. There was also a wistful look hiding just under the surface, making Sakura remember what Kakashi had said. Why was the assassination only vital if she said no?  
  
The demon examined the child before her again, searching the girl's eyes. Aki still held by her earlier assessment that the girl was far too innocent, but there was something else. She was asking for the power, and was bright – she wouldn't pass it on to one who would bring destruction to the line of demons. This Sakura girl would acknowledge when her time was up rather than fight it. "Are you really willing to give it all up? Surely he told you that the price was great."  
  
Sakura bit her lip, not liking the way the demon had phrased the first question. Still, she nodded. Even if she had to die or take Sasuke's place, she would do it if it would save her teammates. She wouldn't be left behind anymore. "I'm sure."  
  
Aki grinned, looking more insane than ever. Sakura hadn't asked what the price was. Perfect. "Good luck then. After I give it to you, you have two minutes to ask me questions. You came just in time." Not giving Sakura time to wonder what that meant, she lunged forward, jerking the girl's neck to the side and biting into the soft flesh waiting there. Aki paused, savoring the scent of fresh blood – a scent she hadn't had the pleasure of smelling in decades. Then she sucked, determined to help the blood out of the wound as quickly as possible. In her arms, Sakura struggled weakly, although it was obvious that the fight was merely an instinctive reaction. Sakura had already made up her mind about what was happening and was not going to turn her back on it.  
  
Finally Sakura stilled, only enough blood remaining in the body for it to continue living for a few more minutes. Aki pulled back, smiling at the girl's expression. Even dying, Sakura's eyes still shone with determination, perhaps even brighter now that she was so close. "Don't worry, just drink this and you'll be fine," Aki whispered, tearing the flesh on her own throat apart and pressing the pink-haired girl's mouth to the gash. At first Sakura gagged, unable to take in the blood, but after a second began messily lapping it up. Aki allowed her to, not worrying about the blood pouring down her form. She wouldn't die from losing her blood. Not yet.  
  
After what seemed like hours, Sakura regained her mind and pushed herself away. Absently licking blood from her lips, she watched the now almost white girl in front of her. "What – what was that?"  
  
The girl smiled. "You're now the demon, not me. Remember, use your time wisely – you may only ask me questions for two more minutes."  
  
Brow furrowed in confusion, Sakura asked what seemed like the only sensible question. "Why two minutes?"  
  
Aki shook her head, walking over to a small circle of stones barely large enough for one person to stand in. She raised her head to face the sun.  
  
"What am I then? How am I stronger? What exactly happened?"  
  
The girl tilted her head. Was it just Sakura's imagination or did she look suddenly older? Aki answered this question, though her voice was almost too soft to hear. "You're a demon. You are. . . ." Abruptly she stopped talking and jerked. Now Sakura was certain – the girl was definitely older.  
  
"I'm what?"  
  
Sonoda Aki never answered. The fire started slowly, a slight blackening of the skin on her throat that turned into a small flickering light eating its way across her body. Sakura ran over – tried to beat out the flame – but could do nothing. Aki grasped her shoulders and pulled her close, the fire licking at Sakura's delicate skin. "Thank you," Aki whispered, tears dripping from eyes that hadn't produced them for almost a century. Then, eyes widening as she suddenly understood something, Aki kissed the green- eyed girl. Sakura pulled away immediately and just in time to avoid the firestorm that sprang up around the former demon.  
  
Just as quickly as it had started it was over, leaving a girl who was once Haruno Sakura, a kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf, alone in a clearing next to a circle of white stones. Within the circle were the remains of Sonoda Aki, now naught but a pile of ashes. Sakura touched her burnt lips lightly. With that kiss she too shared some understanding of what had happened. She smiled wryly, a look that seemed so very out of place on her features. Sasuke would be coming home very soon.  
  
Author's Note: So is it any good? looks hopeful I've had this idea bouncing around my head for the longest time, and finally decided to give it a try. To answer some so far unasked questions, I'm taking the idea of vampires and turning it a bit inside out. I'm trying to look at the myths associated with them and change them so that I can explain them with some small bit of logic. However, as I'm going with the idea that this is actually a sort of demon, I have to change a very small bit of my logic. More will be explained in later chapters or author's notes. If you have any questions on why something happens, ask because it's possible I haven't though about that yet and I want everything to make sense. waves Well, bye! 


	2. II

The first thing Sakura did in her new life was enter the place – more cottage than actual house – that Aki had lived in. The back of her mind was already racing through thoughts about what had just happened, and had realized that Kakashi must have known just what would take place if she said yes. That information only connected with the part of her mind that was still in a daze long enough to communicate that it would be a good idea to visit her sensei and ask him about everything.

"Yeah, everything," she mumbled, gazing at the nearly empty kitchen area. It wasn't as if she just needed to know how Kakashi knew about the demon, or what, but also how her life was going to change now, if she was going to go up in flames as well, and what it meant for her life as a ninja to no longer be human.

_"Are you really willing to give it all up? Surely he told you that the price was great."_

Sakura shook her head and headed into the bedroom, pausing to study the drawings adorning the hallway. Each one depicted the same man, although his garments and surroundings changed. Sakura leaned closer to read the name on one. Sonoda Aki. She smiled, suddenly wondering if being a demon would make her an artist as well.

At last, in the bedroom, she found something that might pertain to her new life: a diary. Hopefully, Sakura opened it only to cry out in frustration. The book was half-full of writing, but it was extremely faded and in a form of writing unfamiliar to her. Towards the end the writing became closer to what she knew though, and she found that the last few pages were easy to read. Hopes rising once again, she bent over to read in the failing light.

_Sonoda__ Aki, Year Twenty-eight after Turning_

_I'm sorry if you're reading this because I turned you without telling you anything. My creator also told me nothing, although hopefully unlike him I did at least warn you somewhat. I only found this book two days ago after searching for something like it for years and so it is of no help to me, but hopefully you've found this soon enough that you'll have some use for it.  The writing's difficult for me to read though, and I can only imagine what it will be like for you. To make up for that and whatever I've done, I'll attempt to explain what I can to you in this. _

_You are a demon. If your mind is trying to tell you otherwise, then make it stop, because denial will only make this harder for you. To become this way, you gave up your humanity to me, causing me to revert back to how I was – a normal human, just like you were not so long ago. That's not to say that you'll begin acting like what you most likely know a demon to be. Rather, your habits like what you eat and when you sleep will change. I can't say exactly how they'll change, as that's something you'll need to discover for yourself, but they will. No other demon that's written in this book has mentioned it, although clues are left, and I will be no different. However, I will suggest you keep a diary, in here if you wish, of how you feel on different days and the factors that change those feelings._

Sakura scowled. What good was the book if it didn't tell her what was to change now that she was a demon? She touched her lips again, gently feeling the cracked flesh. Still, it wasn't as if she were clueless. Somehow the kiss had transferred some knowledge over. She would be stronger, with senses heightened far above what she was used to. It would take time as well – perhaps as much as years before she was at her best. Most of all, she knew her life would become extremely lonely, though she didn't know why. Sakura read on, hoping to find the answer to that question at least.

_There is a man who can help you – his name is Hatake Kakashi. He lives in the __Hidden__Village__ of Konoha. He will take you in if you can find no other place to stay. If you cannot find him, I would suggest staying alone for reasons you will discover as soon as you come within shouting distance of other humans. Look at that – all these years, and I still refer to them as 'other humans' as if we were a part of the same race. It's probably best that way though, as people don't normally take well to demons. _

_I've searched for others like us, and though there are none exactly like us, there are other people who either are demons or contain them. Such people are extremely rare though, and often dangerous. As for demons that remain uncontained and have no human form, the Kyuubi is most prominent. Fear him as if you were human if he remains unchecked, for he will kill you no differently than he would one of them._

_I guess there's not much more to say now. Whoever you are, I'm sorry for what I've done to you, but I know I'll have to do it to someone. You just happened to be the unlucky one. Our strength does falter with our will to live, and we continue the line of demons on, if for no other reason than the sake of continuality. Think of this as belonging to a clan. No matter – if your experience is anything like mine, you'll discover that you must do to another as I've done to you through your own struggles. Remember though – this is not entirely a curse. Your strength will be enhanced, as will many other abilities. Most importantly, you will live as long as it takes you to create another. This will undoubtedly bring you many who would wish for this sort of life if you allow others to discover you, but it will also allow you more time to do whatever you might have wanted to do with your life._

_Good luck with your new life. I pray you be successful in whatever you attempt._

Sakura scanned the pages again, but they still told her nothing but what she already knew – that she must return to Konoha and Kakashi. Biting her lip, she glanced at the rest of the room. Various weapons hung on the wall, but even from where she was sitting, she could tell that they were just for show. Not one of them was the least bit sharp, and no scent of blood came off them. She blinked, retracing her thoughts. "Scent of blood? Sakura, these things could be hundreds of years old – how would you know if they'd ever been near blood?" she asked herself impatiently. This wasn't the time to begin going insane. Inner Sakura didn't know anymore than she did, though was quick to point out that Aki had at least looked insane as well. "Great."

The rest of the house proved no more fruitful than the kitchen and bedroom, making Sakura wonder if Aki had actually lived in it. More than once the idea that Kakashi and Aki had planned the "assassination" together flitted through her mind, although for sanity's sake she quickly pushed it away.

Finally Sakura realized that the residence held nothing more for her, and with only the book and her original supplies, she set off for Konoha. It had taken her three days to reach the demon's home; now that she knew the way it should take a bit less time. Pushing all the confusing thoughts to the back of her mind for Inner Sakura to deal with, Sakura allowed herself to drift back into a sort of daze, only coming truly awake to check landmarks against her memory. In this way, it was only Inner Sakura who noticed that the speed she was going was much more like Sasuke or Lee's than her own.

In Sakura's subconscious, Inner Sakura was making other connections and discoveries as well. From the wording of the diary entry and the events of the day, it seemed that she would live as long as it took to create another, but no more. After a certain amount of thinking, this began to make sense, although it left many questions. After all, if making another did nothing but return one to the way they were as a human, would she not die if she didn't wait until her body would have been dead anyway? If that were true, she could stop being a demon any time within the next eighty years without any consequence.

Another question, one Inner Sakura passed up into the conscious, was more important: could she die from anything else? After all, if she ended up decapitated somehow, it didn't make sense that she could just heal herself.

Hopefully, she wouldn't have to find the answer to that one.

Sakura woke out of her trance as the sun began to set. It was about time she should start looking for a place to spend the night – she hadn't had that luxury on the way to her mission, but on the return trip she could afford to take the extra time. Frowning, she glanced around, checking her surroundings. For some reason they looked more familiar than they should after passing through once. She continued to look, head darting back and forth, until she realized it. This was the area just outside Konoha village. Brow furrowed, she leaped down from the trees she had been jumping through and looked down at herself. There was a light sheen of sweat covering her body, and a good amount of blood on her clothing, but no more. She wasn't even tired. Confused, she walked in through the gates and headed home.

"Sakura! You're back! How was your mission?"

Sakura's head jerked up at the sound of her name. Ino. "I went fine. She did most of the work herself," she exclaimed cheerfully. She left out that she hadn't really killed Aki, rather just provided the demon a way to die. "How've things been here?" Her stomach growled, reminding that she hadn't eaten yet that day.

Ino grinned, draping an arm around Sakura's shoulder. "Fine. I think Choji might be right though."

"About what?" asked Sakura. Clearly Choji had said something that should be common knowledge, but Sakura hadn't been paying attention to rumors in the time before her mission. She had spent most of her time worrying about Sasuke and Naruto.

Ino blinked. "About Shikamaru liking me, of course." She shook her head. "He's not so bad – if he asks me out I think I might say yes."

Sakura nodded slowly. Now that she thought about it, she had heard her mom talking about something like that. "Hey, Ino. Kakashi-sensei hasn't had any missions recently, has he?" Something wasn't right – her senses were suddenly focusing on Ino with startling intensity. She licked her lips.

"No . . . oh yeah! That's right! I was supposed to tell you to go see him when you got back," Ino said happily, still thinking about Shikamaru. "Hey Sakura. . . ." She froze, arm still hanging in mid-air. Sakura was gone.

Author's Note: Ummm… don't have much of one, except to say that I won't be giving titles to my chapters. It just doesn't feel right for me and hey – that's the main person I'm writing to, right? Anyway, I hope this chapter meets the standard I apparently set with the first one.


	3. III

Sakura Trees

Chapter Three

Sakura leaned against the wall next to Kakashi's door, breathing heavily as her teacher went to get her something that would supposedly "make her feel all better." She scowled in the direction Kakashi had gone. How would he know what was wrong with her? How would he know that she had been about to attack her best friend, as well as any number of villagers along the way to his house, without a clue as to why? Sighing, she slid down to the floor, hands covering her face. The problem was that he probably _did_ know, and had sent Ino anyway.

"Here. Just don't think about it too much when you drink it."

Sakura took the glass from Kakashi and, without so much as a glance at its contents, chugged it down rather ungracefully. She blinked, face screwed up in a mixture of disgust and confusion. "Kakashi-sensei, what was that?" Granted, she felt a bit better now, like he'd said she would, but the taste left in her mouth was coppery, and reminded her a bit too much of . . .

"Blood. It's not human, but should do for now," Kakashi replied nonchalantly. He grinned some when his student immediately began spitting out what she could of the drink. It was a bit amusing to see his normally relatively together student falling apart just because of a little blood. Still, it was getting his floor dirty, and blood didn't smell very good if you left it there too long.  Shaking his head, he grabbed her arm and pulled the newly-made demon to her feet. "Don't do that – it's going to make up a little more than half your diet from now on, so you should get used to it."

Sakura looked aghast. "Half?" she croaked. She had vague memories of drinking the demon's blood, but they didn't count for much – she'd been almost dead at the time and couldn't help it. Regaining some of her composure, she shook her head in revulsion. "Kakshi-sensei, what am I now, exactly? She died before she could tell me. And why did you send Ino to me if I was going to be like this? I almost killed her!" she cried, composure lost once more.

Her grey-haired teacher yanked her closer, gripping her chin with his thumb and index finger and tilting her face up to his. "Look at me," he growled. Her eyes snapped open, and he watched them intently. After a moment he relaxed. While her chakra was just about exploding from her body – it was burning him to touch her even this much – her eyes remained green and without the changes in pupil-shape so common amonst those who've let the demon gain control. Kakashi smiled. If Sakura could control herself just a little longer, she'd probably be all right.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

He snapped out of his reverie at the sound of her voice. She sounded sacred and more than a little shaken. Cursing himself for forgetting that she was just a kid and wouldn't understand what was happening to her, he let go of her chin and jerked his head towards his room. "Come on – I'll tell you in there."

Sakura followed him, head bowed. She felt more than a little ashamed at her outburst. This was Kakashi-senei, after all. He wouldn't do anything to hurt Ino or her without a good reason. She needed to trust him more than she had been so far if she was going to bring Sasuke back. Sasuke! She froze. She'd forgotten all about the youngest remaining member of the Uchiha clan. Hurrying after Kakahi, she wondered how she was going to bring him back. Would she go after him, or would he somehow know that something was different and return on his own?

Sakura smiled, picturing her love walking in with Naruto as if nothing had ever happened. She would ask Sasuke to go out with her, and he'd ignore her, like always, looking cool, calm, and collected. Then Naruto would ask her out and she'd – she shook her head, clearing out the impossible daydream. Sasuke wasn't psychic, as much as she'd like to say he was. He didn't even particularly like her; even if he were psychic, he probably wouldn't care about what was happening in Konoha in his absence unless he had some way of measuring her newly gained strength against Orochimaru's. "Kakashi-sensei, if Sasuke's going to come back, I'm going to have to go after him, aren't I? I mean, it's not like he'd just appear back here because I'm no longer human."

Sakura was surprised when Kakashi whipped around, visible eye narrowed in anger and perhaps a bit of disappointment.

"Don't ever say that you're not human. I didn't send you out there to become a demon – just to get the strength of one," he growled. His expression softened some. It wasn't that he was mad at her really, just himself. He hated having to lie to her, even that much, but if she truly though that she had ceased to be human, she would be difficult to keep in line. He didn't want to have to kill her because she decided to do the "demon" thing to do and destroy the village.

Sakura winced, but didn't back down. "I read her journal, Kakashi. She said at the very beginning that I should leave out any thoughts about not being a demon." Was it possible that Kakashi hadn't realized what Aki was? She threw that thought away – it was more likely that he was simply trying to make her feel better.

It seemed he did know about Aki, because his anger disappeared instantly at the mention of her name. In its place was a look that seemed somewhere between sad and something else that Sakura couldn't quite identify while he had his mask on. He bent down, reaching under his bed, and pulled out something. Sakura looked closer.

It was an unassuming metal box not much bigger than a sheet of paper. There wasn't even a very strong lock on it. Kakashi opened it. Inside were pictures and documents, and more than a few crumpled up notes. "Sakura," he started, noting how she jerked to attention, "do you recognize these people?"

Sakura knelt as well, taking the picture from the masked jounin. It was of a girl and boy no older than herself – possibly younger. They were grinning and waving at the person taking the picture, the girl's arm wrapped around the boy's shoulder. Sakura smiled – they looked like they were friends like she and Ino had been, before Sasuke entered into the picture.

"Well?"

Brow furrowed, she studied the kids' faces. The boy only bore a slight resemblance to someone she'd seen before, but the girl seemed extremely familiar. Sakura frowned and flipped the picture over, looking for some clues and blinked, suddenly feeling a little off balance. Two words were there, written in what looked like Kakashi's handwriting: Second Hokage. Sakura turned the photo over again and looked at the boy. Sure enough, now that she knew where she'd seen it, she could easily connect the stone monument at the edges of the village with the boy in the image. The ages were different, but some features had remained the same.

"He's the second Hokage." She frowned. "But he lived a long time ago, and we didn't learn much about his personal life in school. How would I know the girl then?" Even as she asked the question, it was becoming obvious. When all she got was silence from her teacher, she handed the picture back. "Sonoda Aki. That was before she became a demon, wasn't it?"

Kakashi nodded happily. "From what she told me, she was friends with him. She's the one who gave me this." He paused, sensing that his student wasn't seeing the point. "Sakura, she was like you – she made friends, she laughed, she smiled, and she made mistakes. She was human."

Sakura nodded. "And she was human when she died, too. But she wasn't human for all that time in-between. That only proves that I'm not human either."

Shaking his head, Kakashi pulled out another picture. This one was drawn by Aki – the style was the same as in the pictures in the former demon's house. Sakura looked closer, trying to make out what it was a picture of, for only a moment before turning away. She felt sick.

"She didn't tell me what she did to the first person she saw after becoming a demon. She showed me. The reason I sent Ino to get you was to make sure you were still human. She's still alive, so unless you ran into another human on the way here, you're not entirely a demon. You have one in you that could possibly become you and will certainly alter you, but for now you're still Haruno Sakura."

Kakashi shoved the pictures back into their box and kicked it back under the bed as he stood up. "As long as you don't think of yourself as a demon, you'll stay human. Don't lose control, don't listen to it when it tries to convince you otherwise, and don't drink the blood of anyone you kill. Follow that and you'll be able to remain a human."

Sakura frowned, still confused. "If I'm not a demon, then what am I? What do you mean by 'it'll alter me?'"

Kakashi led her into another, smaller bedroom. "You're a girl whose soul is very close to mixing with that of a demon. It alters you because no matter how good you are, there will be some blending. The result of that is changes in your body that make you require the blood the demon part of you needs along with the food the human part of you needs." He smiled, nodding to the bed. "You're right about one thing though. Tomorrow you'll need to leave to bring back Sasuke . . . but for tonight you'll stay here."

Sakura hesitated. Although she knew that she couldn't go home now, it felt weird to be staying at her teacher's place, especially since he was a male. Besides . . . "Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you worried that I'll attack you or something? I mean, I'll be half asleep and. . . ." she trailed off, not sure how to tell someone that you might accidentally kill them.

She needn't have worried. Kakashi just laughed and ruffled her hair, much to her displeasure. "If you need more blood I'll leave some in the kitchen. Besides, my room's not that easy to 'accidentally' break into." With a wink, he disappeared – supposedly to his room.

Sakura's lip curled some. Had he been hinting at something perverted again? Rolling her eyes, she crawled into bed without changing. No sense giving the pervert a chance to make any more of his comments. Shuddering in disgust, she glared up at the ceiling. Then, as she thought about it, a smile crept over her face. Trust a pervert to take her mind off the important things. That thought in mind, she fell asleep for the first time since becoming a demon, or whatever she was.

In his own room, Kakashi was also staring up at the ceiling from his bed. He could kill himself for all the lies he'd had to tell her in just under an hour. He turned to his side. Hopefully she'd never need to know just how much of her soul was "blending."

Pushing the thoughts out of his mind, he jumped out of bed and sauntered into the kitchen. Almost on autopilot, he pulled some more pigs blood from his refrigerator and warmed it. Still not thinking about it, he performed a jutsu he'd developed especially for Sonoda-san. It kept the blood from clotting, and was useful not only making mid-night snacks for newly made demons, but also for helping his enemies to bleed to death.

It was only when he looked down and saw that he'd positioned a kunai over his arm that he snapped out of his daze. Blinking, he shrugged and stabbed himself, letting the blood pour into the cup, filling it just a little bit more. He stopped the bleeding as quickly as possible, not wanting the smell of fresh blood to wake Sakura.

He glanced at the red liquid, contemplating throwing it out in favor of one without human blood in it. Finally though, he decided. It would be good for Sakura to learn what human blood tasted like while he was there to stop her from taking more. He smiled, remembering the last time he'd had a demon in his house.

_"Please, Kakashi-san? Just a little – you won't even feel it."_

_"Why do you have this obsession with my blood? Is it really that much better than the pig's blood I get you?"_

_She grinned, pointed teeth making her look even more wicked than usual. "Yeah, Kakashi-san. It's just that good."_

Author's Note: originally this was a bit shorter, but then I got the It's just that good' line stuck in my head and had to write it. Anyway, this chapter is a lot of talking, but oh well. It's a necessary evil – sort of like bad writing. It just has to happen sooner or later. . . . Heh. Anyway, yeah. I hope you liked this chapter – if you didn't, tell me why and I'll try to fix it.


	4. IV

Sakura Trees Four  
  
It wasn't quite morning yet – Sakura could tell that much from the small view the only window in the room provided – but she was wide awake. That was most unusual. Normally she would sleep as late as she could – her mother rarely managed to wake Sakura up until the girl was ready. Before the Chuunin exam business, she had had to force herself to get up in the mornings to meet the rest of Team Seven on the bridge and wait for Kakashi. Once those meetings stopped being a concern, she'd begun to let herself sleep later and later until she was waking up at noon almost every day. To not only be awake, but unable to go back to sleep at four AM. . . . She would've thought that she'd sleep even more than usual, considering the mission she'd just gone on – not less.  
  
Sakura shrugged mentally, chalking the abnormal behavior up to being a demon. "A demon. . . . I'm a demon." She tried the words out loud, liking the sound of them. After a bit of sleep, it was easier to think about such things. She scowled a bit in the direction of Kakashi's room. It was also easier to see that Kakashi had just been trying to make her feel better. Well, before she left to get Sasuke, she'd just have to put him in his place – show her teacher that she wasn't some whiny little brat that couldn't handle a little change now and then.  
  
She resolutely ignored that up until a few months ago, she had been a whiny little brat and that becoming a demon was hardly just a little bit of change.  
  
Swinging her legs out of bed, Sakura glanced around at the room she'd been too preoccupied to take in the night before. It was nice enough, she supposed, but decidedly creepy. There'd definitely been blood spilled in it, though not recently. She shuddered. Why was she thinking about blood being . . . ? Sakura blinked and thought back to Sonoda Aki's house. She'd smelt blood there too. Not only that, but once back from her mission, she'd been quite nearly driven insane by the smell of it coming from the people all around her. Now that she thought about it, the only time she hadn't smelt blood since arriving in the village was when she was around Kakashi. Why was that?  
  
Sakura put her mind to work. How much did she know about her sensei's relationship to Aki? They obviously knew each other at least well enough for her to tell him her life story, telling that they'd probably been at least good friends. Sakura shook her head. That's all they would've been. She hadn't seen anything to prove otherwise – no pictures of each other hanging on walls or sitting on desks, no dreamy smile when the other was mentioned, and no apparent care that Kakashi had sent an assassin after the ex-demon.  
  
In either case, Sakura could be reasonably sure that Aki had lived in the room she was sitting in now for an extended amount of time. During that time, it would only make sense that Kakashi would learn or create new jutsus to help Aki resist killing him. Sakura grinned, glad to have figured out a plausible theory, and hopped the rest of the way out of bed. Thinking about blood had reminded her stomach why she had woken up in the first place: she smelt said substance close by. She licked her lips unconsciously and padded out into the kitchen for the snack Kakashi had promised would be waiting.  
  
As Sakura got closer to her destination, she tried to discern some more information from the smell to take her mind off of what it was that she was going to drink. What her nose told her was confusing. Though most of it smelled exactly like the blood she'd had the night before, another smell mingled amongst the smell of pig's blood. This other scent was far sweeter and made her mouth water. It reminded her vaguely of the way Ino had smelled, but better. Purer.  
  
"Sakura – did you just wake up?"  
  
The kunoichi whirled around, startled. She'd thought that she'd been alone, but there Kakashi was, leaning against a section of wall she'd just past. She smiled hesitantly, mind not bothering to focus too much on the man. There was a good possibility that real blood – human blood – was just around the corner. "Yes, Kakashi-sensei. I guess I was hungry." Very hungry, her mind amended. She thought briefly about just continuing on without waiting for her sensei to reply, but the part of her that was still Sakura put its foot down at that. Wanting blood to the point of obsession – fine. Being rude to get to it? Not fine. Still, she wished he'd hurry and say whatever it was he wanted.  
  
"Sakura," Kakashi started, eyeing her suspiciously. So far she seemed to be keeping the lust for blood in check, but he didn't trust that to last long. "Remember that for a while at least, the smell of human blood will smother all other smells. The less there is filtering that out, the less likely it is you'll be able to control yourself." Seeing that she wasn't listening, he sighed. "In other words, you're most susceptible to attack where there's blood."  
  
Sakura heard the conclusion in his voice and, after noting that what he'd said was important and she would do well to remember it, took off toward the kitchen. She didn't notice that Kakashi was following with something he'd had hidden behind his back. She just knew that she had to get to the blood before it disappeared. Distantly, she wondered how said liquid would disappear, but that thought was ignored.  
  
The blood was far more important, and within seconds she was gulping it down, careful not to spill a single drop. Blood was life and life was blood. Nothing else was important. She needed to get more. Nothing else was  
  
CLINK. CLINK.  
  
Something was restraining her from getting more blood! She growled, chakra spinning about her, searching out a source closer to her. It found one and  
  
Sakura froze, only just realizing that she was about an inch from plunging her teeth, her fangs, into Kakashi's neck. She pulled away – tried to get as far from the man as she could – and fell, being jerked off her feet by handcuffs she had only hazy memories of being put on her. "K – Kakashi- sensei?"  
  
Kakashi smiled and Sakura realized for the first time that he no longer had a mask on. She felt her cheeks heat up as she remembered the position she'd been in not a few seconds ago. There was something decidedly perverted about the whole setup, she decided, and she wasn't sure it was a coincidence. She scowled, not wanting to know why Kakashi had been able to get the handcuffs so quickly. It wasn't the sort of thing one wanted to know about their teacher, even if said objects could easily be explained with far more innocent reasons.  
  
"Kakashi," she asked, voice far more confident and slightly annoyed this time, "what happened? You knew it, whatever it was, was going to, didn't you?"  
  
Kakashi nodded and Sakura felt the blush return as she noticed that he really was quite good-looking. "Better than Sasuke even," Inner Sakura traitorously whispered in awe. Unfortunately, Sakura had to agree. Though he was far from perfect – he had a large scar running along his jawline – and probably a pervert, Sakura found herself wondering if she looked all right and if he was mad that she'd just attempted to kill him. Inner Sakura sighed and rolled her eyes. Kakashi was definitely a pervert, but probably didn't like little twelve year old girls. This thought made Sakura remember what the real problem was: not that she'd almost killed a man that happened to be amazingly attractive but that she'd nearly killed a man at all.  
  
Kakashi's smile broadened as he read the emotions flitting across his student's face. Like he'd hoped, she wasn't going into shock or any such thing, instead going straight (or almost straight) to the analytical state of mind she was known for. "Some people, like Aki, call it the blood-lust. It's a stupid name, but it's accurate. Your mind and common sense were over- ridden by the urge to get more blood. Yes, I knew it would happen the first time you had human blood, and it will probably happen again. That's why I'll be accompanying you on your way to retrieve Sasuke. You need someone with you to supervise you, and I'm probably best suited for the job. Let's go – you won't need any supplies."  
  
Sakura blinked as they darted out of the house and out of the village. She'd never even had time to argue.  
  
AN: This has been typed up for about a month. BUT! My beta refused to go online without a gun to her head (which I provided) so... it took me a while to convince the poleeze men that I didn't not intend to kill anyone. 


	5. V

Kakashi was needed before they even got out of the village. Sakura would've thought that having had human blood already, she'd be able to control herself a bit better, but it seemed that the opposite was true. Three steps out the door brought her face to face with Kurenai. Before anyone could so much as blink, Sakura had already decided that she could easily pierce that thin layer of skin covering the larger arteries with her new abilities. After all, she should be much faster now, so no one could possibly stop her. With that in mind, the pink-haired genin darted behind Kurenai and prepared to bite through to reach the blood.

She didn't expect Kakashi to have by that time already picked her up and slapped the handcuffs back on.

Kurenai raised one eyebrow at the struggling girl before her. "Isn't that the Haruno girl?" She wasn't sure, but Kurenai thought that Kakashi had mentioned his female student as being quiet and, while not very strong, capable of planning things out. The attack she'd just witnessed was not at all thought out, but the power behind it was something else. It seemed more like she was looking at Kiba.

Kakashi nodded. "She's not herself today – she's going with me to bring back Uchiha Sasuke." Leaning down next to Sakura's ear, he whispered, "Get yourself under control or we'll have to wait. Don't make my decision to pick you be a wrong one."

Almost instantaneously the kunoichi's struggles ceased and the handcuffs came back off without Kurenai ever noticing they were there. Inner Sakura frowned and stuck her tongue out at where she currently had the demon pinned down. Stupid thing was going to get them caught, and then she couldn't save Sasuke from Orochimaru. Sakura smiled up at her teacher. "Yep! We're gonna rescue Sasuke-kun and bring back him and Naruto!" The genin pumped a fist in the air, allowing Inner Sakura to take control a bit. She seemed to be better equipped at handling the urge to kill people.

Apparently reassured that nothing much more unusual than usual was going on, Kurenai smiled and handed Kakashi a folder. "Hokage-sama wants to see you, but that can wait until you return. I take it this mission is a secret?"

Kakashi grinned, although it was hard to see with his mask once more covering his face. "Yeah. That kind of thing."

"I'll get Gai and Asuma. We'll keep people off your trail," Kurenai offered seriously.

Giving a short shake of the head, Kakashi pushed Sakura past the female jounin. "You guys get involved and Tsunade'll know. Just try to keep the number of questions down, all right? Pretty soon we're going to be getting a lot of attention, and I don't want anyone to have thought about us until then." He handed the folder back to Kurenai as he too strode past her. "Get Gai to take care of this. Tell him it'll help him get ahead of me."

Kurenai said nothing as the two ninjas walked away quickly. When she glanced behind her, she couldn't see them anywhere in the darkened street. "Good luck," she whispered, and then she too was gone.

Sakura turned to Kakashi, a suspicious look in her eyes. "Sensei, you _did_ tell the Hokage about this mission, didn't you?" she asked. Not that she needed to. She could tell that Kakashi was using some extremely high-level jutsu, probably learned while he was an ANBU member, to keep himself hidden. When he didn't answer, instead merely giving her that laid-back smile of his, she was positive. This mission wasn't an official one, and probably would get them in a good deal of trouble if they got caught.

"Kakashi-sensei. . . ." Sakura started to ask why he was risking so much for Sasuke and Naruto then stopped.

"_I won't let my teammates die."_

How many times had she heard him say that? Yet here she was, about to ask him to say it once more. She changed her question. "Why aren't you having me use some sort of jutsu to hide?"

This time Kakashi actually stopped, only a few feet from the wall surrounding Konoha, and stared at her. "Why would I?" he asked a bit too casually.

Sakura frowned at her teacher and waved her hand to indicate his own jutsu. "Well, you are, and I think I'm far more likely to be questioned than you. After all, I'm still just a genin, and we've already got more than enough of us out there chasing Sasuke," she explained as if it were the most obvious concept in the world. And it was, at least to her.

Kakashi seemed to think otherwise though. Grabbing her shoulders, he leaned down so that he was almost face to face with her. "Sakura, how did you know I was hiding myself?" Not waiting for an answer, he pushed her away and started examining a section of the wall. "You don't need to do anything except stay quiet and not use too much chakra. The demon in you –"

"Don't bother with that, sensei," Saukra muttered, looking away. "I'm not someone you can easily convince of something like Naruto. I won't break if you tell me the truth you know."

The grey-haired jounin glanced at her. Because of her superior chakra control, the chakra that before had been burning all about her was now wrapped tightly around her making her shine with the glow of carefully restrained power. In the darkness, with the moon not visible and the sun not yet up . . . she was beautiful. He smiled slightly. Although it made it more difficult for him, he was glad that she hadn't believed his lie. "Fine. But if you want me to treat you like an equal, then start acting like one. My name is Hatake Kakashi, not sensei."

Sakura blinked, confused, and nodded. "Kakashi-san," she tried slowly. She grinned. "Then, why don't I need to hide, Kakashi-san?"

"Because," he said, shrugging slightly, "as that demon, you're naturally hidden to the rest of the world. Of course, if you start talking to someone, or use your chakra, anyone could see you. That's why it's important that you don't call attention to yourself." As he talked, he began pressing seemingly random points on the wall, small flares of chakra appearing with each strike. It didn't look like anything was happening. "Sakura, I need you to wipe some of your blood across here. When I was in ANBU, we used this when we needed to avoid people noticing us leaving or arriving. However, since I'm no longer an ANBU member, this probably isn't keyed to my blood anymore."

Without thinking, the genin bit her thumb and pressed it against the wall where Kakashi had indicated. She frowned. "Kakashi-se, I mean Kakashi-san, why would my blood work then? I wasn't ever in ANBU."

He winked, or at least Sakura thought he winked. It was hard to tell with his forehead protector covering one eye. "I'm hoping that since you're a demon, your blood will confuse the seals enough to let us through. If not, we'll just have to break through."

"Break through! How the hell are we supposed to . . . break through?" Sakura trailed off as the wall began to glow slightly. Then, ever so slowly, a hole appeared. Before it was finished expanding, Kakashi pulled her through, planting an exploding tag on the wall. Immediately the wall closed back up with a small shudder as the tag exploded inside.

Kakashi grinned as he tore off his mask and forehead protector and, not bothering to ask, slipped off Sakura's hitai-ate as well. "Well, that's all done. That door won't open anymore, so if they look for us, they won't think that we went out through there. It should buy us some time. Anyway, from now on we shouldn't wear anything that relates us to Konoha," he explained as he dug through a bag that had been sitting outside the wall for some reason. After a few seconds he pulled out a vest and pants that seemed more like something a shopkeeper might own than a ninja. The clothes were dark-colored and covered in dust. "I haven't worn these for years," he murmured. Skura turned away as he slid his chuunin vest off and began changing.

"Kakashi-san," Sakura started, trying not to blush. _Oh my god. . . . My teacher's right behind me changing! Should I act casual? Does it just mean that he trusts me or maybe he . . . he doesn't like me, does he? Or maybe he just doesn't think of me as a girl since I'm a demon now. _Inner Sakura growled at the last thought. If things were that way, she'd have to take care of that idea quickly.

"Did you want something?" asked Kakashi, sounding as if he were right behind her.

Sakura jumped and covered her eyes, face burning up. Quickly she focused all her attention on keeping her chakra normal so that no one would spot them. "That it, I mean, why would anyone be chasing us? Tsunade-sama won't declare us missing-nins, will she?"

Kakashi stepped in front of her and, putting one finger under her chin, lifted her head so that he was looking into her eyes. "You're a demon now, Sakura. Right now, people who have been watching Sonoda-san for years because of that are realizing that you should be their new target. Amongst those people are organizations like Akatsuki." He let go, watching as she backed up some. "There's something else you should know. The Kyuubi now resides within a host, and from that organization Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame are now after him for the Kyuubi's power. If they discover you instead, there's no way to stop them."

Sakura's eyes widened. "That's Sasuke's brother, right? He's after Naruto?"

Now it was Kakashi's turn to be surprised. "You knew about Naruto?" he inquired, walking towards her.

Sakura nodded, taking her place next to him as they slipped into the forest. "When we were in the Forest of Death, Naruto saved us from Orochimaru, but something happened to him because of a seal that Orochimaru put on him. It seems to be gone now though, judging by the way he fought at the third exam. Also, the only way he could have possibly defeated Gaara is with a demon of his own." Glancing at Kakashi's surprised face, she smirked. "None of us say anything about it, but it is kind of obvious that there's something weird with Naruto. I wouldn't be surprised if Shikamaru and Neji have figured it out as well."

Kakashi nodded some, no longer focusing on his student's words. It only made sense that the smartest of the genins would figure out something as big as that. It wasn't as if the adults in Konoha did a very good job trying to keep the secret. Instead, he studied Sakura's face. Although she seemed to be in control, the smirk that had passed over her face for a moment was identical to the one that Aki had worn at times. That expression was the demon, and that she was already using it so casually was a bit worrisome.

"Kakashi-san?"

The jounin blinked and looked back at the path they were walking on. "Ah, it's nothing."

Her eyes were still green.


	6. VI

Sakura was starting to get a bit annoyed. Kakashi wouldn't let their pace change from a smooth, casual walk – the pace of a traveler who doesn't have anywhere specific in mind as their destination. To ease her boredom slightly, she began testing to see how much chakra she could push out before she started to lose control of it – which was when Kakashi would notice what she was doing and give her a quick pointed glare before continuing with his easy gait, hands behind his head as if he had not a care in the world.

It was almost the end of the first day when Sakura noticed something disturbing. They'd just walked past a house she was sure they'd gone past that morning. "Kakashi-san. . . ?" she whispered, hesitantly. If Kakashi had known about this the entire time, it'd make sense that he'd had them walking so slowly. He would have wanted to measure how powerful the person in charge of the genjutsu was. Sakura glanced around again. If they could make it last this long before the scenery started to repeat itself, they were extremely good. Biting her lip, Sakura pushed out a bit of her chakra again, this time using it to search for their stalker.

"Sakura, I want you to stay here while I scout out the road ahead. Why don't you get yourself a drink while I'm gone?" Kakashi suggested off-handedly.

Sakura nodded, smiling as if this was a perfectly normal suggesting. Inside though, her stomach was doing flip-flops. If Kakashi meant what it sounded like he meant, then. . . . Sakura shook her head as she reached into the pack Kakashi'd left behind for a water bottle. For someone to be going through so much trouble to capture them, they'd probably be after her. Kakashi was easy enough to get other ways.

The attack came as she was just replacing closing the water bottle. Her sense of smell detected the presence coming towards her first, latching onto the smell of another's blood and nearly destroying her tentative control of the demon. Then she heard a whistling noise of a kunai and ducked instinctively. Almost immediately the imaginary handcuffs placed on the demon side of her broke and it raced out to take control, shoving Inner Sakura aside with no effort.

The person who'd thrown the kunai stopped a few yards away from her, far enough to avoid being scorched by the enormous amounts of chakra very nearly exploding from the twelve-year-old's body. He smirked, lifting his sword off his shoulder. Even if she was a demon, there was no way she could keep up this sort of chakra – especially once Samehada started to absorb it all.

Sakura took a deep breath, staggering back a few steps as she struggled to restore her control enough to think out her actions. There was something weird about that sword the guy was resting on.

'_Hey – don't do anything stupid,'_ Sakura hissed at the demon. It glared back at her. _'Don't look at me that way! I want to live you know, and not as this guy's pet demon. So keep my chakra under control or you won't last long. Try to stay away from that sword too, if you can.' _

The demon didn't seem happy about it, but with a snarl that seemed a bit out of place on her face, the chakra receded back into a thin layer just above her skin. Green eyes darted about, searching for Kakashi, but found nothing.

"Done already? That was a pretty impressive display, but if you can only keep it up for that long, there's no point in fighting back. You'll just get hurt more," Kisame taunted, stepping closer to her. Itachi shouldn't have been worried about this mission. Even that Uzumaki brat was better equipped to fight than this kid.

"Shut up Kisame. They want her alive, and if you use that thing on her too much, there's no way that'll happen," snapped a woman of about thirty as she appeared next to the Akatsuki member. Her hitai-ate marked her as a missing-nin from the sand. Sakura guessed that she was probably the one to do the genjutsu. Kisame didn't seem the type to deal with such subtle tactics.

"I've been here longer than you – I know what I'm doing Kaoru-san," grumbled Kisame. Of all the people he had to get paired up with, it just had to be their newest member, Yuki Kaoru. He hit the ground a few times with his sword, looking bored. "If you're so smart though, why don't you capture her? That's the way "Itachi-sama" would go about things."

Kaoru glared at her partner and strode over to where Sakura was, trying to ignore the girl's eyes on her. "I will then. While I'm at it, why don't you go fight Hatake Kakashi. He's not stupid – he's watching us from somewhere."

Sakura blinked as Kisame disappeared, presumable to go kill Kakashi, and Kaoru turned to her. The woman didn't seem nearly as threatening suddenly. In fact, maybe it was a good thing that this all happened. Really, she shouldn't have made the assumption that Akatsuki was a bad organization to get mixed up in just because of a few unruly members. . . . The demon growled a bit as it fell to the back of Sakura's mind once more.

"You're Sakura-chan, right?" asked Kaoru with a smile.

Sakura nodded, ignoring the sounds of yelling in the background. It seemed like Kakashi was probably fighting by now. He'd win, so that was all right.

Kaoru's smile widened some as she sat down, bringing Sakura with her. "My name's Yuki Kaoru. You can call me Yuki-chan if you want."

Kaoru no longer looked like the missing-nin Sakura'd seen a few minutes ago. She was now another twelve-year-old sitting and talking with Sakura. Sakura blushed and looked away. For some reason she felt like her old self – the one that had been afraid of everyone and everything. Something in her mind whispered that this wasn't right – she should be helping Kakashi so that she could go save – "Sasuke-kun!"

Kaoru glanced over in surprise at her new friend. "Sasuke-kun? Is he a guy you like?"

Sakura nodded, the blush deepening. "Kakashi-sensei, I mean, Kakashi-san and I are traveling to go get him back from Orochimaru. So please – you have to let us go. Naruto's already after him, but I don't know if that's enough and . . . I don't want either of them to die."

Kaoru stood, brushing away the illusion of her younger self, and walked over to where Kisame and Kakashi were standing in a deadlock. "Oi – Kisame! We're leaving. Samehaha can have some more of this old man's chakra next time we stop by. Right now we've got to go meet up with Itachi-sama."

Glaring, Kisame nodded. Kaoru was in charge of this mission, not him. If she wanted to play nice to get the brat, he'd let her. He wouldn't be the one getting killed if things didn't work out.

"Sakura-chan, I'll let you go for now, all right? I understand how important your first love can be, and it sounds like this Sasuke-kun could be it. But you'll come back to talk to me some other time, right?" Kaoru smiled. "Maybe after you've saved him and made him realize just how important you are to him?"

Sakura beamed up at the missing-nin. She couldn't believe that someone Kakashi had said would want to use her for her power would be so understanding of her predicament. "Of course Yuki-chan!"

"Good luck Sakura-chan! I hope you get him back – Orochimaru wasn't a very nice man. That's why we aren't at all unhappy that he left our organization." With that, the two S-class criminals disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sakura's eyes very nearly glowed with excitement. Any doubts as to her ability to retrieve Sasuke were gone. She turned to Kakashi, bouncing slightly. "Hey, Kakashi-san. . . ?"

He was gone. Where he'd been standing, there was only a note.

_Go ahead and save the Uchiha brat. When you're done, we'll bring back the old man. As far as Kaoru-san's life. . . . You'll decided whether or not she lives later. Remember, she's counting on you._

Sakura stared at the note. Kisame had to have left it. She glanced about quickly, trying to figure out where the three had disappeared to, but could find nothing. Glowing now for an entirely different reason, a furious Sakura dashed off to get Sasuke. People's lives were resting on her actions now. She couldn't afford to mess up.


	7. VII

Naruto twitched, pausing as he approached the dark-haired boy in front of him. As much chakra as was bubbling around Sasuke, there was someone else not too far away with the chakra of a demon. He turned once more to Sasuke, growling at the way he'd allowed the curse seal to overcome him.

'_Ignore him for the moment. Another demon is coming – one I haven't sensed in years. She may not want to help you, but if you can convince her . . . not even this thing before you can stand up against two demons,'_ the Kyuubi whispered. Slowly, the chakra surrounding Naruto tightened back into a protective layer over his skin, and where before there was only one tail, nine tails now floated ominously.

Naruto nodded, stepping back from Sasuke and turning his back on him. This was done partially because he wanted to see this new demon, and partially because he knew it would incense Sasuke more than anything else he could do. By turning away and looking so vulnerable, Naruto was saying that he thought nothing of Sasuke's power – that Sasuke was weak.

"Naruto-kun!"

Naruto's eyes widened, turning back to their usual blue color for a second. Why was Sakura here? And where was the. . . . Something in his mind clicked, and Kyuubi laughed at the horror spreading through his host.

"Sakura-chan? What – what did you do? What happened to you?"

The blonde-haired boy stumbled back as Sasuke pushed past him. The youngest living member of the Uchiha clan too had reverted back from his former appearance. His eyes narrowed at his body's reaction to the kunoichi. "This is no place for you Sakura. Go home."

"You're wrong, Sasuke."

Sasuke blinked at Sakura then at Naruto – both had spoken at the same time. Naruto nodded toward Sakura. "You did this for him, didn't you?"

Sakura smiled slightly then bowed her head. "Yes." She raised her head and Sasuke gasped, the curse seal receding even more. With that one motion, chakra had suddenly begun streaming out of her. Thin tendrils reached toward him, but stopped just short of touching his now pale skin. "Sasuke, Naruto-kun and I are taking you home," she announced loudly. Voice dropping down to a whisper, she added, "Please don't resist."

Laughing, Sasuke stepped closer to the glowing girl. True, she seemed to have much more power than before, and he would have to find out how that had happened, but she was still just the useless little kid that followed him around. "And what happens if I resist?"

Ignoring his question, Sakura turned to Naruto. "After we do this, I have another mission to go on. You'll make sure he has no chance of getting away once he wakes up, right?"

Naruto nodded seriously, crouching down and readying himself to attack the pale boy between the two of them. "Ready?"

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked, an out-of-place smirk spreading across her face, "You really should have said yes when I asked you out. The harder you are to chase, the faster girls run to try and catch up." Without warning, she and Naruto leaped forward.

Sasuke shared Sakura's smirk as he returned to his level of power from before. It was slightly painful, but would be necessary to fight Naruto. He resolutely ignored the nagging voice in his mind that said Sakura would be fighting too, and that Naruto knew something about her that the younger Uchiha had yet to discover. So what if two people were attacking him now? He could see their motions before they ever completed them.

He froze. Both of his teammates had disappeared completely.

"Gahhh!" A surprised cry fled from Sasuke's throat as the tendrils of chakra he'd forgotten about in his search for his opponents suddenly tightened around him. How could he have been so stupid? Sakura reappeared in front of him, one arm wrapped around Naruto's waist. Something about her frightened him – the chakra surrounding her was a bright green and was burning almost as brightly as Naruto's. While Sasuke had no doubt that Naruto was still the stronger of the two, Sakura had the intelligence to overcome that. For the first time since the fight began, Sasuke was forced to look away, unable to take staring into her jade eyes while they shone with betrayal like that.

"Sasuke, one last chance – come back with us on your own," Sakura pleaded, stepping forward slightly. Her voice was desperate. "Orochimaru can't just hand over strength. It comes with a price. All power comes with a price," she whispered bitterly.

Sasuke glanced up in surprise for a moment, the question of where she'd gotten her chakra from flickering across his mind for a second. Then his eyes narrowed as he realized something: Sakura's chakra was fading. Nodding, he released the curse seal as much as he could. The tendrils faded away completely. "Sakura-chan. . . ." he said, stepping closer to her. He didn't dare look at her directly. "You – You're right. This isn't how I wish to defeat my brother – under the power of Orochimaru. I'll return." To prove himself, he forced his eyes to return to their usual black.

Naruto grinned, bounding forward, loosing the image of the nine-tailed fox around him as he ran to welcome his teammate back. "Sasuke bastard! I knew you wouldn't do something so stupid! Right Sakura-chan? I told you I'd –"He choked, a spray of blood spurting from his mouth. He glanced down at his stomach – the _seal_ – and coughed again. The spiral pattern now had a glowing ball of energy sitting directly in the middle. He looked back up at Sasuke, mouth opening and closing wordlessly. A pair of red eyes with three wheels each glared back at him.

"Naruto!" Sakura shrieked. Why wasn't he moving? The Kyuubi should have been protecting him! What happened? What did Sasuke do?

Sasuke smirked, also staring at the seal his Chidori had destroyed. "Give up now Sakura. You stand no chance against me with Naruto out of the way." He chuckled and turned to face her. He sneered, noticing how still she was gaping in shock. "Go home. You're still just as weak and pathetic as you were before. Go run and cry to your friends and continue being weak and safe."

Sakura blinked, eyes darkening as she registered her former crush's words. She bit her lip and was surprised to find that her teeth had pierced it on the sides. She ran her tongue over the offending teeth. Her canines were pointed. Sakura smiled, a grin that revealed this change, and stepped toward Sasuke, releasing the pent up chakra within her. "Sasuke-kun," she began, voice a bit too sweet as her eyes and hair slowly faded to a dark red, "you really don't know when to quit, do you?" Her crimson eyes narrowed as she darted towards him. Surrounding her hand was a flame of energy just barely kept in with the last of her energy. She grinned, insanity flashing across her face, as her hand struck Sasuke's shoulder while he spun away. It wasn't much, but it still sent him stumbling to the side. Now, with the demon's energy surrounding her so much, she didn't care how long the fight took. She could afford to hit glancing blows all she wanted.

Sasuke's heartbeat pounded through her ears as they exchanged blow after blow. It was all she could do to keep fighting and not just wrap her arms around him and bleed him dry. Even with her impressive control, more and more of the demon seemed to be leaking out, and she wasn't sure how long she could hold onto the thin line keeping her from trying to kill the other genin.

The now white-haired boy was breathing heavily, eyes wide. Where had this come from? They were evenly matched – something that had never happened before. There had never been a time when any girl, much less Haruno Sakura, had been able to keep up with his speed and ability. And now, when he was borrowing so much of Orochimaru's strength and had the ultimate level of Sharingan, one hit should have easily dispatched her. Instead, the more he made her bleed, the stronger she seemed to become, fighting more erratically and thus becoming harder and harder to predict.

"Sakura!"

"What?" she gritted out, barely escaping a burst of fire from her opponent.

"If you can tell me a way to gain the strength you've gotten, I'll return with you to the village," Sasuke said, suddenly coming to a stop.

Sakura, however, wasn't able to stop quite as quickly. She ended mere inches before him, breathing in the smell of sweat and fresh blood coming off him. Her eyes widened, Inner Sakura trying to beat down the demon now that the fight was over.

Too late. She lunged forward, tearing into Uchiha Sasuke's throat even as he jerked backwards. That only tore his skin further. The curse seal, held on the flap of skin, retreated as Sasuke's breathing became more and more irregular. Sakura smirked, lapping up the slowing stream of blood. Maybe, when the Kyuubi recovered, it wouldn't mind sharing some of the meal. She'd never been too fond of the flesh itself, and this could be a perfect opportunity to make a new ally. . . .

"Sa – Sakura-chan? What . . . are you doing?" croaked Naruto. He pushed himself up slightly, ignoring the pain running through his stomach. He felt . . . unusual – more balanced and in control of himself. That difference didn't matter yet. What did matter was that his precious Sakura, the one he'd made that damned promise to, was drinking Sasuke's blood – killing him.

Sakura froze, eyes widening. She shoved Sasuke away from her, cringing as his body made a wet, slapping noise on the ground. He was drenched in blood and barely breathing.

She staggered back. "Naruto, I. . . . This isn't. . . . I didn't. . . .Oh god. Sasuke? Sasuke!" The pink-haired girl collapsed crying, noting with a slight laugh that her tears were made of blood. Sasuke's blood. She choked again, the tears pouring out even faster. "Naruto, what have I done? Make it stop! Naruto!" she cried, clutching her head.

Naruto, acting on some instinct that he'd never known he'd had, pulled her into his arms, watching as Sasuke's breathing continued to slow. "Sakura-chan. . . . He's low on blood. How can we fix that?"

Sakura's breath hitched some, but she calmed as Naruto's voice washed over her. It was soothing in a way, and brought her back to her senses. "He – he needs to get it back. I'll have to do it since you already lost so much blood but. . . . If – if I go near him I – I might – Naruto! I can't do it! Help him. . . ."

"Naruto?" asked a surprised voice. The blonde turned, not releasing the kunoichi in his arms. "Man . . . it was supposed to be a rescue mission. . . . This is so troublesome. Hey! We need medics over here!" called out Shikamaru. Soon Sasuke was surrounded by medic-nins. Shikamaru ignored them and meandered over to where the still conscious members of Team 7 were sitting. "So Naruto. . . ." Shikamaru paused, eyeing Sakura cautiously. She was covered in blood, yet didn't seem to have any lesions large enough to have produced it all. He frowned as Gaara and Lee appeared next to him.

"What happened to my Sakura-chan?" asked Lee. He wasn't sure what was going on, and he didn't like that she was being held by Naruto, but as it was obviously keeping her calm, he didn't say anything about it. "Did you come here all alone? Where's your sensei?"

Naruto blinked, seeing how the girl stiffened at the mention of Kakashi. "Sakura. . . ?"

Sakura stood, pushing Naruto gently. Raising her eyes to his confused ones, she smiled slightly. "I have to go find him. That was my other mission."

Naruto shook his head. "Where is he? Do you need me to come-"

"NO!" she shouted. Blushing, she added, "It's something I have to do on my own. Don't worry – he's with a friend. It won't be too dangerous for me." She turned and started walking, half wishing someone would stop her. Wishing Naruto would insist on following so she could cry on his shoulder again and ask him how he'd handled nearly thirteen years with the Kyuubi inside him, when she could barely manage a few days without trying to kill someone.

Behind her, Naruto accepted Gaara's hand and got to his feet, not bothering to ask why the Sand-nin was helping him. The group of genins that had gathered watched Sakura's blood-drenched form walk away, hair gently swishing back and forth as if nothing was wrong.

"Naruto. . . . She's changed."

Naruto nodded. "Ah."

Glancing at him, Gaara shook his head. "She's an idiot for doing that."

Nodding once more, Naruto started to follow the girl. Gaara followed close behind him. Lee also started to follow, but Shikamaru stopped him, shaking his head. "Don't bother. They'd leave you out. Those three . . . are the same now," he said, averting his eyes.

Lee just watched as the three disappeared into the distance. Beside him stood Temari. She smiled sadly and led Lee away to check on Sasuke.

Author's Note: Well! All right, I apologize for the delay in the fifth and sixth chapters. I'd actually had them written for a couple months, but my beta wouldn't send them to me and I didn't have them on my computer anymore. So. . . . I had to end up going to her house and having her burn them on a cd for me. They're completely unedited, as is this chapter. Having said that, I'd like to request a beta reader or two. Or three. -

Also, I want to stress that I'm trying as hard as I can not to turn Sakura into a Sue. If you've read Puppet in Pink, I consider Sakura a Sue there, and that is what I'm trying not to do. The girl has weaknesses, and is not stronger than Naruto by any means. Naruto was simply caught by surprise. Had she reached Sasuke before Naruto, there's no way she could have kept up with him. I want to mention this now to make sure everyone realizes that I am aware that canon characters can become Sues, and I am working on the prevention of that in my stories. So bye! Thank you for reading, and feel free to tell me anything I did wrong.

Sonoda Aki


	8. VIII

Emerald eyes narrowed as yet another flare of red chakra alerted the kunoichi to the location of the Kyuubi's vessel. Sakura sighed. If Naruto and the other person had to follow her, they could at least be more discreet. It was almost insulting that they thought she wouldn't sense them. She paused for a moment before continuing on at her neck-breaking speed. Perhaps it wasn't all that bad. The other person was someone she probably wouldn't have sensed at all except for the smell of blood that occasionally reached her through the wind and her own demon's insistence that two others were following her. As for Naruto, she couldn't really blame him. She winced as her chakra exploded from her body, only to hit the shield she'd set up after the first explosion. It reflected back at her, scorching her flesh. No, she definitely couldn't look down on Naruto for not being able to control his chakra – not if she was having trouble as well. It was most likely a side effect from releasing the demon so much.

Still, whether it was Naruto's fault or not, she couldn't have Kisame realizing the boy was there. Akatsuki was after him after all, and although Kaoru seemed nice enough, the pink-haired kunoichi had no intention of joining said organization. Having two demons following her would only make matters worse. _Even more,_ murmured Inner Sakura sadly, _if he follows, we might turn on him as well. Like Sasuke._

Sakura shook away the thought and spun around resolutely. "All right, demon. You wanna do something? Here's your chance." With a wicked grin, she dropped the chakra shield and began pouring all of the demon's energy into the ground below her. _What the hell are you thinking! _Sakura just grinned even more at the demon's yelling. "Don't worry. You'll like it. It's your sort of thing."

Naruto and Gaara started to slow down as they realized Sakura had stopped and was facing them. Gaara's eyes flicked down to the pool of green and red chakra she was standing in. Without a word, he began backing away, dragging Naruto with him. Naruto glared. "Hey! What d'ya think you're doing?!"

"Brace yourself."

Sakura screwed her eyes shut as the last bit of the chakra she was willing to give up drained into the ground. "Raikan!" she shouted, jumping away from the explosion she'd set off. Suddenly she seemed to stop, floating in mid-air for a moment as the wave of power washed over her. Not far away, Naruto watched in awe as she was engulfed in a bright green light, her eyes snapping open in surprise. Then she was gone, shoved out of the way by her own power. Naruto cursed as Gaara's wall of sand covered him from the green light approaching.

"It's speeding up as it goes out," Gaara noted calmly.

Naruto blinked at him in confusion until a stone flew through the sand shield, leaving a bloody streak as it whizzed past his cheek. Naruto cursed again. What the hell did Sakura think she was doing?

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Kaoru nudged the bleeding girl at her feet. "Oi. . . . It's good that you got rid of those two, but honestly . . . don't you think you could've done it without drawing as much attention to yourself?" Shaking her head, the violet-eyed woman motioned for Kisame to come over.

The mist missing-nin merely glared at her and continued trying to pull their hostage out of the rubble that had not too long ago been a shack. "What do you want?" he snarled, shoving off another board and grabbing Kakashi's arm.

Kaoru rolled her eyes and walked over. "She's unconscious right now. I want to wait until she wakes up, then ask her if she'll join Akatsuki or not. Until then – go return Kakashi to the two that were following her." Seeing the derision in her partner's look, she turned away and began tending to Sakura's wounds again. The girl moaned. "Not that I should have to explain myself, but Sakura-chan is much more useful to us if she's willing. If we have her teacher and are blackmailing her into saying yes, it means nothing, and she'll have even more of a grudge against us. We need to know where she stands."

Shrugging, Kisame slung Kakashi over his shoulder and stood. "And if she says no?" he asked as he disappeared to bring back the grey-haired man.

Sakura turned in her sleep, a troubled look on her face, as Kaoru's look hardened. "Not a problem, Sakura-chan. Not a problem at all," she whispered, watching Sakura's eyes flutter open.

The girl winced as the bright afternoon light hit her eyes. "Yuki-chan?" she asked, coughing. Eyes widening, the kunoichi scrambled to her feet and looked about. "Where's Kakashi-san?!"

"Don't worry about him – he's being returned to your friends as we speak. I didn't want him to be a deciding factor in this," Kaoru laughed, easily switching back into her role as a twelve year old. "He's in good shape too. Kisame wasn't allowed to hurt him at all."

Sakura sighed, visibly relieved. "That's good then."

Amethyst eyes narrowed as Sakura turned to leave. "Sakura-chan," Kaoru started with a warning tone. "You haven't answered my question yet."

Without looking back, Sakura answered coldly, "What question is that, Yuki-chan?"

Kaoru stepped closer, wrapping her arms around Sakura's waist and breathing in the scent of blood. "Will you join me? Will you join Akatsuki and return with me?" Her twelve year old image wavered slightly as she pressed her face to Sakura's neck. "I promise you won't regret it – ever."

The pink-haired genin stiffened and pulled away from the embrace. Smiling softly, the girl turned back to face Kaoru and shook her head. "Kakashi's already being returned home? Then I've got to be going. I never planned on becoming a part of your organization."

Sakura started to back away, guard lowered by the childish image Kaoru presented. She was stopped, however, by the sudden coldness engulfing her. She gasped slightly as she glanced down to see ice slowly creeping up her body. Her head shot back up to meet an older version of Yuki Kaoru smirking at her. "Wha – what? How?"

Rolling her eyes, the missing-nin once again closed the distance between them and ran her thumb along the frozen kunoichi's jaw, tilting Sakura's head up to her. Making her voice higher, she imitated mockingly, "Wha – what? Why is sweet little Yuki-chan suddenly using ninjutsu on me? Oh no! Whatever shall I do?" Her voice dropping back to normal, she continued, "Honestly, Sakura-_chan_. Our reports said that you were supposed to be good at dealing with genjutsu. Didn't you notice me using it?"

She spun around with kunai in hand, grinning as the real Sakura's eyes widened in shock, and struck the girl's head. The frozen duplicate turned into a log in a poof of smoke as Sakura struck the ground, out cold.

"Doing it so she likes us, right?" asked Kisame, appearing behind her.

Kaoru glared at him and slung the unconscious girl over her shoulder. "Shut up."

"Whatever you say – you're the leader of this mission, after all."

"I said shut up!"

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Naruto groaned as he examined the site the chakra had come from. He was covered in scratches from the few rocks that managed to force their way past the sand protecting Gaara and him. "Damn. . . . What did Sakura think she was doing? Whatever demon's in her isn't going to like her using all its energy like that, and what if she's attacked?" He bit his lip, glancing around once more in hopes that his crush would magically appear somewhere.

_Kid, she's not here. I can sense it, _muttered the Kyuubi. Although he didn't like to admit it, he'd been a bit excited at the prospect of meeting that demon again. Maybe he would've gotten a chance to fight her. . . . She was one of the only demons he knew of that had willingly sealed herself within a host, and in the past he'd killed her vessels in hopes of eliminating her. However, she always managed to find a new one just soon enough to save her pathetic life. Now that he was sealed as well though . . . it was possible that she might know how to get out from the vessel's body, and that would be useful. The fox-demon growled as he sensed a familiar chakra heading towards them. _Shark-face on the way. Look out._

Naruto jumped as the grey-skinned man that had once attacked him in a hotel appeared carrying Kakashi. Naruto's eyes widened. "Kakashi-sensei!" Glaring as the S-rank criminal set Kakashi down before Naruto and Gaara, Naruto pointed and exclaimed, "What did you do to our sensei, and where's Sakura-chan?!"

Kisame disappeared and Gaara began walking back towards Konoha, leaving Naruto to pick up his teacher and chase after the red-haired boy, cursing the entire way. Eyes narrowing in determination, he swore silently, "I'll find you Sakura. No matter what it takes, I'll get you back."

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Sakura screamed as another flare of chakra struck her, this time forming a burn on her stomach, melting her clothing to her skin.

"You belong to us – you are a member of Akatsuki," said a faceless figure as he shot out a blade of chakra to slice into her thigh. "You have no will unless it is our will. You will do as we say, and only as we say." The sleeves of her dress became glued to her blackened shoulders. "Your trainer is me. You will do whatever I say."

Tears crept down her face as the litany came to a close. Only one more, she told herself. Only one more.

"You are a demon. You are worthless. You are ours. Now repeat it."

The bloody girl bit her lip. "I –"Another burn, this one across her face, stopped her, reducing the rest of her words to sobs.

The man grinned. "Don't worry, you'll learn. You belong to us. . . ."

Sakura's screams stopped when her voice broke, leaving only choked whispers for help.

Author's Note: All right, I really want a beta now. If anyone could PLEASE do the beta thing for me, I'd appreciate it so much. That having been said. . . . heh. That last scene was hard to write. I mean, the whole chapter was hard to write, but especially that last scene with Sakura. (It's not really hard for a good reason though. . . .) I'm generally good at writing death and torture. The thing is, I tend to have that sort of thing written in first person so I can capture the way they're think, with the broken stream of consciousness and all. To skip out on that was. . . . odd. Ah well. Read and Review, and tell me what I did wrong. Bai!

Sonoda Aki

NEXT CHAPTER ANNOUNCEMENT: The next chapter most likely won't come out for another month, even though it's already planned out. The reason for this? It's National Novel Writing Month, and I'm already three days behind. Go to n a n o w r i m o . c o m to check it out. (Hopefully the link works that way...)


	9. IX

Naruto stared at the black markings covering the black-haired boy's shoulder, and back, and face. The curse seal had been acting up constantly as Sasuke laid there in his bed unconscious. Two rooms over, Kakashi was just waking up, but Naruto didn't have the heart to go over there and say that he'd gotten Sasuke back at the cost of Sakura. Kakashi could have a few minutes rest before finding out that yet another teammate had disappeared mysteriously.

The blonde-haired boy sighed, turning to gaze out the window. Somehow Sakura'd become a carrier of a demon as well. In addition to that, she undoubtedly knew about his connection with the Kyuubi. He smiled. Even knowing what she did, she had smiled at him and fought alongside with him, their demons reveling in joining together in a test of each others' strength.

"Sakura. . . ."

The smile dropped from Naruto's lips as Sasuke called out for their absent teammate once more. In the past, she would have gone to any lengths to hear him call her name as he was now. However, when he finally did it, she was nowhere to be found. The blond sighed, cursing in his mind. He never before thought that he'd want to see Sakura fawning over her crush (unless that crush was him) but right now. . . .

"Yo."

Naruto turned, surprised at his teacher's silent entrance, then resumed his brooding. "Hey Kakashi-sensei," he muttered as Sasuke let out another moan of pain, the curse seal expanding rapidly to engulf the currently white-haired genin's body.

Kakashi said nothing, simply examining his student's body, occasionally referring back to one of the charts showing what jutsus the Godaime was planning on trying once a bit more research had been done. He turned and stared at Naruto then returned his gaze to Sasuke. His eyes were blank.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto started finally, unwilling to allow the silence to continue any longer, "Sakura's gone."

"I know."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly, but he nodded quickly, averting his gaze. Kakashi's eyes were scaring him. "She's a demon now too. How could they take her so easily? She seemed to really know what she was doing. . . . Was it because she was too tired after the fight with Sasuke?"

Kakshi sighed, placing his hand on Sasuke's shoulder gently, watching for a reaction. None came. "How did she bring him back?"

Blinking, Naruto shrugged. "He saw how much stronger she was and realized that there was a good chance that going back with us might be of more use to him." He hesitated, not wanting to defile his beloved Sakura's name, but feeling the need to tell the rest of what had happened. "She. . . . He stopped fighting, and she bit him and she started drinking his blood. . . . The medics came before he could die, but she was really shaken up. It was like she was experiencing what I usually do when the Kyuubi's trying to take over only a lot more."

Kakashi nodded, standing. "Don't tell Sasuke what happened to her. There's a good chance that he'll return to Orochimaru, and that man is simply trying to take over a body with the Sharingan. I don't want to lose another one of my students."

Just before the grey-haired teacher could reach the door, Naruto shook his head, muttering, "You're just going to give up on her like that?"

Although the comment wasn't meant to be heard – he was sure of that – Kakashi cast a grave look at his impulsive student. "She's with Akatsuki now. I'm barely up to par with one alone, but against nine of them, there's nothing we could do. We would need someone with not only the power to defeat them, but the desire to. If someone like that existed, Akatsuki would already be long gone." He shut the door, stumbling out through the haze of worry and self-loathing he'd tried so hard to hide from Naruto.

Said boy was once more staring at Sasuke's curse seal, a contemplative look on his face. Sasuke would have been the better choice for the mission he was thinking of, but it was probably best that the genin wasn't healed enough to regain consciousness. It wouldn't be any good to have to bring Sasuke back from that snake again. Closing his eyes, Naruto stood and followed Kakashi's path out of the room and continued out back towards Konoha's gates. If he took any time to stop and think about this he'd chicken out.

The guards at the gates didn't even glance at him when he passed. Suddenly, only a few hundred yards from the walls surrounding Konoha, he paused, sensing someone following him. Maybe they did notice him. The appearance of Hinata at his side, blushing furiously and poking her fingers together in nervousness quickly shot that theory to pieces. Naruto tilted his head, scowling. If Hinata was here then her father probably was too, and that meant he wouldn't be able to go save Sakura. Still, it wouldn't hurt to play innocent. "Ne, Hinata! You'll never guess what happened! I've got a new mission and it's top secret, but I guess"

"I – I want to go with you, N-Naruto-kun. T-to save Sakura."

His mouth dropped open, surprised not only that she had cut him off, but with what she was saying. It only continued falling further ajar with every word she uttered.

"I'm – I'm the one who knocked the guards unconscious. They won't know wh-what happened to e-either of us until at least t-tomorrow." The Hyuuga family's heir kicked at the ground, embarrassed as Naruto gaped, somewhat resembling a carp.

"You? Hinata? You – you knocked the guards unconscious?!" exclaimed Naruto. Without waiting for a reply, he rushed forward, enveloping the girl in a tight hug. "Of course you can come! It'll be dangerous though," he added, a somber tone in his voice.

Hinata nodded, walking a few inches behind him, letting him have the lead. "Wh-what's your plan?"

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"Kakashi!"

The jounin snored in response, drool pooling around his mouth. Iruka's lip curled at the reek of alcohol emitting from the man, but the brown-haired man managed to force his arms around Kakashi. In a strange sort of half hug that looked more like Iruka was trying to push the jounin away from him than carry the man, Iruka managed to bring Kakashi back to his house from the stand he'd been passed out at.

Rolling his eyes, Iruka stepped over a picture of Sasuke smashed on the ground. In that photo, Itachi happened to be barely visible in the background. Apparently, that was too visible. Iruka immediately repealed his harsh judgment of the man. Even though Kakashi seemed careless and far too lazy, he had to care deeply about his team to be beating himself up this much over something that wasn't his fault.

Of course, Iruka knew the story behind the Haruno girl's disappearance. Everyone did, it seemed. Kakashi had sent her on some sort of assassination mission. When she returned, they left together in the dead of night to retrieve Sasuke. Akatsuki ambushed them while they were gone, and they took Kakashi hostage. Sakura continued, managing to bring back Sasuke, but was also captured. The jounin was returned as a sort of a trade for Sakura's body – probably because it was difficult to carry around a hostage and a bit pointless if you didn't need them. No one blamed Kakashi except Kakashi.

Iruka sighed, picking up the broken glass and setting to work at cleaning the house. There were probably errors in the story as he'd heard it. At the very least, there were gaping holes. What had Sakura been doing, taking an assassination mission by herself? Why did Akatsuki let her retrieve Sasuke? How did she even get Sasuke back? The punishment Kakashi was inflicting upon himself was most likely tied into the answers to these questions.

Today the news of Hyuuga Hinata's disappearance had spread through Konoha in just a few short hours. When asked why he hadn't noticed earlier, Hiashi replied that she'd been disappearing for days at a time to train recently, saying only that Naruto was an inspiration to her. Upon further questioning, the Godaime discovered that the gate-keepers had at one point blacked out. No note had been made because they had been playing cards and drinking at the time, and didn't want to tell anyone that. However, with that part of the story revealed, it seemed more and more likely that Hinata was the cause of the black-out. Obviously, she had been trying to cover for someone. If she could sneak up behind the guards, she could easily take care of herself.

That was where Naruto came in, and the burden of informing Kakashi of the boy's disappearance was why Iruka was sitting in the jounin's kitchen now staring at a cup coated in with what looked to be blood. Some sort of jutsu was on it, keeping it fresh, although in some places the jutsu had worn off. What was Kakashi doing in here?

"Is he still asleep?"

Iruka jumped at the sound of Sasuke's voice. Trying to give the boy an easy grin, he leaned back with a soft sigh. There weren't any ANBU members around. Something was wrong. "Yes."

Sasuke snorted, sitting at the kitchen counter, head resting on crossed arms. He was smirking slightly. Every once and a while he'd cringe and touch his neck gingerly. Tsunade's final decision had been to simply cut off the area of skin with the curse seal then create another seal on the area around the wound. It was an imperfect method of removing the seal, but for the time being it seemed to be working. When asked to do so, Sasuke was no longer able to summon up the monstrous power of before. That alone was the only reason Iruka was able to sit with what little ease he did. Had Sasuke still been fully fanged, the chuunin would have been gone the instant the genin appeared.

The silence stretched on just long enough to make Iruke nervous. He didn't want to give the younger boy the satisfaction of seeing how uneasy he was though, so he kept quiet and waited for the tell-tale hitch in Kakashi's breathing that meant he was waking up. Only a few days ago he'd spent the night here for a different reason. He'd stayed ever since. The glass of blood and the picture were new though. So was the drinking. In just a few hours, Kakashi had somehow managed to effectively return to the wreck he'd been just after release from the hospital.

There it was. Iruka's breath caught with Kakashi's and before he knew it, he was on his feet, rushing to the other man. He froze. Kakashi's eyes were open, but they weren't looking at him, as they should have been. With anyone else, it might not have even registered in the first place, but Iruka saw it. He saw the acceptance in those eyes that said that even if the approaching footsteps belonged to an assassin, it didn't matter.

"Kakashi," Iruka said, hating to hurt the man even further.

"He's gone, isn't he."

Eyes widening, Iruka nodded.

"Tsunade told me this morning. He's gone to Orochimaru most likely. I told him that to get Sakura back, he'd need the help of someone stronger than me. Hinata must have gone with him." The man's voice cracked slightly. "I never should have told them that stuff about teamwork. It's pointless if you lose your own life and still can't reach your objective." He shook his head. "That's not even it. If I hadn't sent Sakura on that mission, she wouldn't have become a demon. She wouldn't have ever had those people after her."

"She was a demon?" Sasuke asked, striding out of the kitchen.

Kakashi didn't seem to hear him. "If only I'd been a little stronger. If only I hadn't sent her to kill Aki-san. Why did I think that I could change her into something that couldn't be beaten?"

Iruka shook his head disbelievingly. "No. . . ."

"Let's go get them then."

Iruka tried to silence Sasuke, but the boy wouldn't stand for it. "You want to redeem yourself, right? We'll go get them. If you don't go, I'm going to anyway. I need Sakura to get stronger – she promised that if I returned to Konoha she'd help me get more powerful. I won't let her skip out on that promise just because she's been kidnapped." He cracked a malicious smile. "Besides – this'll be the perfect opportunity to get my revenge on Itachi. So are you coming?"

Kakashi's eyes focused for just a second. He shook his head slowly, and returned to gazing into the empty darkness. With a shrug, Sasuke left, revealing an unconscious ANBU member just outside the door.

Author's Note: Well, I'm back! I would REALLY love to have a beta, so if any of you could please send me an email with the subject line "Mustang does it with Ed" I'll be very thankful for your offer to beta for me. Thank you!

By the way... If your mind works anything like mine, and if you see the hints I'll be dropping starting towards the end of the next chapter, your eyes will burn. Reading the chapters after the next one will make you want to scrub your brain with lye. thinks Unless you like that sort of thing. Some people do. I mean, some people like Orochimaru (me.... sweatdrop) But in any case, I'm warning you ahead of time: If you review saying what it is and revealing the secret, I'll erase your review. I don't want to ruin the story for the innocents. (I will save your review on my computer though - I do so love reviews -)


	10. X

In the darkness of a room deep within the caves not even Akatsuki members cared to frequent, green eyes fluttered open. Within the depths of those dizzying emerald orbs, hints of red sparked for dominance. The eyes shut again, momentarily blinded by even the dim lighting in the cell. Slowly however, Sakura managed to push herself up to a sitting position. As she did so, her hair fell over her shoulders in wet clumps. The red in her eyes finally dissipated completely as she touched the blood-red strands in confusion. Somehow she couldn't remember anything from who she was to how she'd gotten to be there. Glancing up, she noticed for the first time just how strange things really were.

The cell wasn't the cold stone room she thought prisons would normally be composed of. Instead, there seemed to be a film covering the entire floor, including where she was. It was some sort of liquid. The lighting was far too dark for her to tell what, but it didn't smell bad at all. It was drying though, so she had no interest in it. In addition to the pool surrounding her, there were odd shapes lying about closer to the one side of her cell that was open to the outside.

That was another oddity. Where normally one would expect to have another wall, or bars at the very least, there was open air. Sakura didn't try to walk out. She could see nothing beyond a certain point – a point at which everything seemed to simply spot. Maybe, after she'd thought about everything a little more, she would see what was wrong there. For now though, she had bigger problems. Biting her chapped lips, Sakura focused on herself. Every muscle in her body was aching as if she'd had them in constant use for eons. She couldn't remember that. As she worried her already raw lips, her tongue flicked out to catch a drop of blood seeping out through the cracked skin.

She froze.

Hesitantly, she touched her fingers to the pool she was sitting in and raised them to her mouth. Although she didn't know why, she licked the wet digits, grimacing at the taste in horror. It wasn't hers – it tasted different – but it was definitely blood. Something within her told her that she'd been the cause of it and that, at the time, she had enjoyed the killing.

The genin glanced across the cell to the bodies on the floor. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, it became painfully obvious that they belonged to men. The way they were laying suggested that they hadn't even been killed on their way out – somehow, Sakura had killed them within seconds of entering the room.

"Sakura, are you awake?"

At the sound of the voice, red flashed across her eyes. Sakura watched fearfully from within her own mind as her body tried to stand, only to fall backwards with a splash when chains she hadn't even known were there tugged on her wrists. With a snarl, she tried again, with the same results.

"Sakura, I won't come in so long as the demon is in control. We've lost enough men to it."

The normally perky girl blinked in confusion as the rage that had consumed her at the voice died down, rumbling in the back of her mind. She licked her lips, tasting the blood there once more, flowing more freely now from the sudden surge of power. Was her name Sakura? She supposed so – no one else was here to answer. She tried to answer, succeeding on the second try with only a few cracks in her voice. "Who are you?" she called out. The sound was barely more than a whisper, but in the small chamber it echoed.

A crack of energy at that place where visibility ended, and suddenly there was a woman standing in the middle of a long hall. Memories surged up through Sakura bringing a headache: a girl of twelve smiling, a man carrying an enormous sword bound in white wrappings, and that same woman spinning, kunai in hand. Sakura fell forward onto the ground, gripping her head tightly to stop the painful images. She cracked an eye open. "Yuki Kaoru," she breathed, staring at the woman accusingly. "You – you did this." Forcing her body to comply with her commands, she stood up, arms straining against the metal binding them. "Whatever . . . this . . . is, you did it. You're the reason I'm here, aren't you? You're the reason I can't remember anything."

Kaoru said nothing for a moment, simply watching the young girl with an undecipherable look on her face. Finally she sighed, and took a few steps forward into the blood. Her face revealed none of the distaste she felt at walking through the remains of people who had once been her companions. She stopped just a few feet in front of Sakura. "It took you a while to finally regain your senses. Much longer than I had anticipated." The woman turned her gaze to the ceiling, where older bloodstains remained. Unlike those on the walls nearest to her, these were from Sakura's blood. "I'm not the one who erased your memory. That was you, most likely in response to the torture others, working under the orders of Akatsuki, inflicted upon your body and mind. I had nothing to do with it."

Sakura snarled, pink and green chakra flickering to life around her, although her eyes remained that pure green that Kaoru associated with sanity. "But you brought me here. I wouldn't have been tortured if you hadn't done that," she said, struggling to keep her voice even through the pain of speaking. It did explain the poor condition of her body and why speaking was so difficult. "How long have I been here?"

"Three years. It's been just a few months over three years," her captor replied, not even trying to defend herself against the previous accusation.

"Why are you here now? After all that time, why would you appear to me now?" Sakura asked, voice rising to a quiet shriek. Within her, the rage simmered coolly, content at Sakura's anger. It understood that Kaoru was here for a reason, and that if it overwhelmed the broken girl again, the woman would leave instantly to avoid death. Kaoru wouldn't return – somehow it knew that. This was its last chance to escape the chakra-enhanced cuffs restraining it.

Kaoru cast a dark glare to the door, where the shadow of a man had appeared. Although he said nothing, she wasn't sure if she should trust him. After all, one became a member of Akatsuki by being untrustworthy. Still, he knew what she was doing now, and that was that. She wasn't as strong as him, so would just have to keep going despite having caught the attention of Uchiha Itachi.

She looked at Sakura, expression grave. "A lot changes in three years," she murmured. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "A man named Orochimaru has risen in power over the past four years. A few months ago, his forces suddenly exploded into the weaker villages, easily overpowering them and turning them into yet more bases for the Sound villages' army. He's gained two newcomers – a girl named Hyuuga Hinata and a boy named Umazaki Naruto. The boy is a demon like yourself. In fact, until he joined with Orochimaru, he had been another target of the Akatsuki." Her lip twisted at the name Naruto. The boy had just recently reappeared, only to be teamed up with a man that could easily take over the world given enough time.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, trying to ignore both the ache from the flurry of images accompanying Kaoru's words and the ache in her arms from being bent so awkwardly. Glancing over Kaoru's shoulder, she frowned. The man standing there reminded her of someone else – someone she thought might be pivotal to her history. "Why come to me?"

The pink-haired girl gasped when, in response, Kaoru came closer and bent over. In seconds the chains were removed, leaving only the thin metal links around her wrists. With a couple additional words, the cuffs shortened to become what seemed like simple bracelets. Kaoru moved back, examining her work for a moment as Sakura rubbed the sweaty and raw skin no longer hidden by the metal bands. Smiling slightly, Kaoru turned around, now speaking more to Itachi than to the recently freed teenager. "Naruto is after us now. If he'd been captured back then, we could have done something about it, but not now. He's become far too strong for any of us to even hope to defeat should he become serious. This is the end of Akatsuki unless we do something!"

Sakura cut in, voice cold with realization. "You want me to go in. You want me to face off against this boy – Naruto – all alone and hope I can defeat him so that your organization can be saved." She laughed, the sound dark and bitter. "Why would I do something like that?"

"Not alone, Sakura. Never alone," whispered Kaoru. The woman bit her lip, turning into her younger form, although she didn't bother to add the sunshine to her expression that would complete the genjutsu. "Akatsuki is allied with Konoha, one of the few remaining strongholds against the encroaching wave and your home. You were born there, Sakura. All your friends remain there." Her expression turned desperate, as if she could hear the ticking of a clock signaling the ever approaching end of her life that would come at the defeat of Akatsuki and Konoha. "I even have two in another room not too far away that we caught trying to sneak in to retrieve you! You'll go with them to battle Naruto and his partner, Hinata. Please, Sakura."

Throughout the begging, Sakura could feel an underlying current in the missing-nin's voice. Although it was true that the woman was anxious, she was not yet to the point of unrestrained panic. She still had an ace somehow. Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Contempt filling her features, she stalked past the S class criminal with a shrug. "It's not my problem. If I want to, I'll fight as a member of Konoha, not Akatsuki."

She made it only ten steps out of her prison, only five from the shadowy form of Itachi, when she fell to the floor from the pain streaming out of the bracelets still on her arms. Kaoru knelt next to her, helping her up. As she did, she whispered, "You belong to us – you are a member of Akatsuki."

Unconsciously, Sakura nodded slightly, her own murmur joining in with Kaoru's. "I have no will unless it is your will. I will do as you say, and only as you say. My trainer is you, I will do whatever you say."

Patting her head, Kaoru finished the litany. "You are a demon." She stopped, hand cupping Sakura's face gently. "You're not worthless, because you are mine."

Eyes widening, Sakura stumbled away, bumping into Itachi. The man said nothing, only helping to steady her and walking away. Kaoru's gaze followed him until he rounded a corner then returned to the girl before her. She sighed. "Sakura, I try to be nice to you, but you are ours. Do you understand?"

Sakura glared at the woman, recovering from the initial shock of the change in the mantra. "In other words, I have no free will. You only pretend I do." She shook her head, the rage coming back to the foreground and threatening to spill over once more. The demon – she was sure that that was the source of this otherworldly anger – no longer had any use for the woman. Still, Sakura kept it at bay. Memories were slowly returning to her. She knew who Naruto was, and had vague ideas of who Hinata was. Along with Naruto's image came that of another boy, a younger version of the man who'd just disappeared.

Said boy rounded the corner at that moment, accompanied by a gray-haired man. Both were struggling weakly against Itachi. The fight in them seemed to disappear however once they saw Sakura. Kakashi – was that really his name? – simply stood stock still, the haunted look in his eyes intensifying at her state. The younger boy – he was important to her, she knew, so why couldn't she remember his name at all? – rushed forward though, stopping just short of throwing his arms around her and instead settling for a hand-shake. Somehow, Sakura had the feeling that the restraint he showed was more an effect of his brother's presence than of his actual feelings about the matter. It wasn't how she expected him to act though. What few memories of him that managed to filter in illustrated a cold, callous young man with nothing but disdain for her. Maybe that drastic change was what was preventing her from remembering more about him.

Sasuke smiled. The expression was only a slight twitch of facial muscles but was most definitely there. It was a look Sakura was positive she'd never seen on him before. Before she could say anything about it, he began speaking, using a tone of voice that made her legs attempt to land her back on the ground.

"Sakura," Sasuke breathed, touching her softly to make sure she wasn't an illusion. Much like everything he did, he'd thrown so much of himself into finding her that even the sight of his brother failed to make him fly into a murderous rage as before. When she didn't disappear, he sighed in relief. Over the past weeks, the encouraging words of Kaoru had caused him to see countless images of the girl that vanished the second he came near. Finally though, she was real. "Sakura," he said again, voice more sure this time, "you said you could make me more powerful." His voice shook slightly as her face dropped. He hastily tried to make amends for how cold that sounded. "We have to get Naruto back first though. He's trying to get you back – same as me. He just chose to do it in a different way. Once he leaves, Orochimaru will be easy to defeat – Ita . . . _that man_ will do that much." Sasuke hated that he couldn't even manage to say Itachi. It felt weak.

Sakura nodded, glancing over at Itachi. He had on an ANBU outfit. He smirked at her, holding out a pack filled with weapons, much to Kaoru's shock. "I agree with Yuki. Orochimaru will be our first priority. I will find and kill him just as long as you distract Uzumaki long enough for me to do so."

The pink-haired genin's head turned to her sensei's. He nodded slightly, color returning to his face ever so slowly. With one last glance at the bracelets binding her to the will of Akatsuki, she sighed, laughing slightly. "Sure. Let's go get Naruto."

Author's Note: My chapters are slowly getting longer – wheeee! In anycase, just a reminder to all 10 of you reading this story (or 20 – I'll be optimistic and hope there are people reading and not reviewing) if your eyes burn in the next chapter, then you've understood my hints. Please do NOT leave the specifics in your review. If you're a geek like me and want to know if you've gotten it right, then email me, and I'll tell ya. Otherwise, just sit contently and pretend you didn't see it.

knigHtLady – Well, I don't normally respond to reviews, but... I do have to wonder why someone who hates Sakura so much would read a story entitled Sakura Trees. I also have to wonder what Sakura's done to deserve this hate. I hope it's not like the "I hate Relena" thing in Gundam Wing, where the characters are defined by the fanon, not canon (and therefore Relena is evil instead of just occasionally annoying...) Ah well. Each to their own and all that crap. I'm sorry you hate Sakura so much, especially since the entire point of this story is Sakura. I tend to like writing her simply because there's so much I can do with her. You see a couple times in the series that she has the potential to be really cool, and I want to try and bring that out. If you don't see that, that's okay I guess. It's not like it's hurting other people. Just don't start throwing burning torches through the living room windows of people who like Sakura and we'll be fine. - Thanks for reviewing, and have a nice day.


	11. XI

It wasn't even a week later that Sakura began regretting her decision to help Sasuke. Although she didn't have any choice in the matter of aiding Konoha and Akatsuki, she didn't have to try to get along with Sasuke. However, when he first touched her as if seeing some sort of goddess, it had made a part of her feel faint. She'd wanted to do anything to make him look at her like that again, and so tried everything she could to make him happy. Everything from walking beside him, talking to him in both an attempt to learn more about him and to discover who she had been before the torture, to practicing jutsus with him was included in her efforts to warm him to her once more.

She was beginning to get tired.

Throughout all of it, he seemed to only become more and more reclusive, focusing more often than not on his brother with a hate filled glare. Like Sakura, his eyes could turn red with the flood of anger. Unlike her, it seemed that while in this condition he lost all senses, in many ways becoming even weaker if only for the madness that overtook him. Sakura took some pride in knowing that, although she sometimes ended up more hurt from her power than her opponent, she at least could speak with the demon residing within her and force it to bend to her will.

She'd had plenty of opportunities to practice. During their search for Naruto, the five-man team earned far more unsavory attention than they'd like. There was nothing to be done about it though, as those loyal to the Sound were everywhere. Although she still had very few memories of how the world should be, the complete surprise she felt at the carnage left in some cities resisting Orochimaru's army led her to believe that there was nothing normal about the invasion. Talking to Sasuke and Kakashi confirmed it – she'd only been around for the very beginning, when the Sound had attacked Konoha and been defeated, though at a heavy cost.

She learned that their Hokage, the Sandaime, had been killed in order to seriously would Orochimaru. It wasn't in vain – intelligence from a man named Jiraiya told them that Orochimaru had been forced to take a different body than the one he had planned. Had his condition not been so critical, he would have waited, taking Sasuke when the time was right. Instead, the snake had had to wait three years – more than enough time for Akatsuki to capture Sasuke in his quest to find Sakura.

That quest, unfortunately, was what troubled the pink-haired genin. Sasuke and Kakashi both agreed that the purpose had been to find Sakura, and that barely two years into it they'd been captured. When Kakashi told it though, he couldn't keep his voice steady, and he refused to tell why they felt the need to risk going up against S-class criminals just for her. Sakura didn't need him to. What Sasuke had said in the caves was answer enough – the teen wanted power, and at some point Sakura had promised it to him. It wasn't hard to decipher what it was he wished to do with said power, either. The dark looks he shot at his brother plainly told what he wanted to do to him – what he would do, were he capable. Sakura had a feeling that finding Naruto and saving Konoha weren't exactly at the top of his priorities.

There wasn't much she could do about it though. She wanted Sasuke to look at her as if she was important for more than just power. She wanted him to stop being so impatient with her for not remembering her promise to give him power.

She wanted him to love her.

It was strange, but it was there. Some part of her that remembered him wanted him to return the feelings that she'd harbored for him before the incident. Even now, as they trudged through the mud, soaking wet from the rainstorm not fifteen minutes ago, images were flashing through her mind. She couldn't tell what they were – only that a boy with white hair was prominent in them, as was Naruto. Pain always accompanied such memories, anything from a dull throbbing headache to sharp pangs racing through her nerves at lightening speed. The only respite from these attacks from her own subconscious seemed to be the high she gained by releasing the demon. As another twinge shot through her, she snarled. If only her mind would stop bothering her for a few minutes, maybe she could think and begin putting things together.

So immersed within her mind was Sakura that she barely noticed the sudden silence of her group. Normally Kaoru would chatter endlessly, making them seem like less of a threat than they might otherwise. Not now. In fact, when Kakashi shook Sakura back to reality, Kaoru was gone. That alone was more than enough to set the other four on edge. Kaoru often disappeared, but almost never out in the open like this. With open land for miles away, she'd used genjutsu to vanish from sight. That could only mean that she thought the risks of letting the enemy know how powerful her genjutsu could be easily outweighed the danger of letting all five be attacked at once.

Sakura grinned. She needed a bit of a rest anyway. It was unlikely that her demon would be needed for the battle – she'd improved plenty on her own – but it would still be fun. Beside her, Sasuke obviously displayed similar sentiments. Only during battle could he see the pretty girl he'd known since he started school become the demon that had promised him strength and ability that no one else could provide him.

Except Orochimaru. With Sakura's memories gone, his chances of getting the power to destroy his brother were slim at best. Every day that passed brought him closer to changing his mind. Even if Sakura could provide him more strength than the old man, Orochimaru at least was a sure bet. Sakura had no clue what she'd meant by her offer of power – he could see it in her eyes. Besides, he often thought that it'd be even better if he were to join Orochimaru and take Sakura with him. That way he could have the best of both worlds – the snake's cursed seal that afforded him power to become like a demon, and Sakura's ability to make him into a demon.

Sakura's blood pounded loudly in her ears, covering up the silence ringing through the air as the others prepared for battle. The demon was rising in her mind, providing her with a rare clarity of thought. She used the opportunity to her advantage, allowing a brief lapse in her control of the demon. It understood well enough that there were better things to kill than the three standing next to it, and wouldn't bother to so much as touch them. Ignoring the demon's delight as the smell of the enemies came closer, the genin focused instead on the nature of the demon. It was the only source of chakra she had access to that Sasuke didn't, so obviously it was the key to her promise to Sasuke. The back of her mind shuddered though, at the thought of handing the demon over. She was certain that she could, but not so certain that she wanted to, or even how she could pass over what seemed like an intrinsic part of her.

A sudden cry broke her out of her thoughts. Four heads whipped towards the source of the sound just in time to see Kaoru smash into the ground, reappearing as her head snapped back with a crack. Sakura glanced down in surprise as the cuffs surrounding her wrists shattered. The source of chakra that's kept them on her was gone. The kunoichi's eyes narrowed as she searched for the attackers. Although Kaoru had been the one to chain her and was the reason she was in this situation to begin with, the woman had never been any crueler than her position dictated she be. The demon seemed to agree, though it was most likely because the angrier Sakura was, the more likely it was that it'd get to spill blood.

Sasuke was the first to see their enemy. His breath stopped short for a moment, seeing what he'd long passed off as the exaggerations of a mind addled by near-death: Naruto. The other boy no longer even remotely resembled the sunny, bouncy annoyance that Sasuke had sparred with so long ago. This was an evolution of the thing he'd fought at that place three years ago. His lip curled in distaste. Naruto was also a demon, but of a different sort. Naruto's demon couldn't be controlled like Sakura's, and its power couldn't be released without changing Naruto into what looked more like an animal.

It did seem that he had managed to get somewhat better at that though.

Sakura's sharp intake of breath broke the spell, and Sasuke returned to real time. Before them, Naruto studied his handiwork, the corner of his mouth twitching upward into a smirk. Then, as if noticing that Kaoru had been traveling with others, the demon sauntered forward. A long braid cracked back and forth like a whip with every step he took. The end of it was a deep red, much like Sakura's hair was when she allowed the demon control. The blonde grinned as he spotted the other demon. "Ne, Sakura-chan, long time, no see, huh?"

Sakura hissed, bristling as he stopped just a few steps from her. "Naruto."

Her head snapped back, not from Naruto's fist, but from Hinata's. The girl appeared next to Naruto without even the usual smoke that most people left when they transported themselves. Sakura stood, taking in Hinata without so much as a flicker of recognition. The girl had black hair just barely reaching her chin, with two much longer pieces in front trailing down to her stomach. That wasn't so important as the eyes. They were pale violet – almost white – with raised veins radiating out from them. Sakura gritted her teeth against the onslaught of images of another, much younger girl looking much the same, only without the look of cool contempt that filled this Hinata's face. The pink-haired genin shook the image away, filing it in her mind as something to look at later. That memory was complete, without the haziness of most of her other memories so far, but this wasn't the time to be studying it.

Hinata was also appraising the girl before her. Sakura didn't have the same feel to her now, and her chakra was more confusing than her partner's. At least his was easy to see, radiating out from him in spirals. On Sakura though, even the chakra coil system was partially hidden by a dim green glow. Hinata glared at the girl, sneering. "Don't address Naruto-kun so familiarly. He's not the boy you used to know."

"I wouldn't know anything about that, Hinata," Sakura retorted, voice even. "I don't remember him at all. If anything, his new position with me gives me even more of a right to address him as such – he means absolutely nothing."

For a brief second, Naruto's eyes turned blue, his expression full of hurt. Sakura noticed, gaze locking with his. For that moment he seemed like someone she should know – far more than even Sasuke did. Her eyes must have reflected this, for he smiled quickly and winked before wincing in pain. Sakura watched in fascination as the red chakra surrounding him intensified, much to Hinata's amusement.

Sakura's attention focused on the girl, aware that it was up to her to keep the pair distracted as Sasuke, Itachi, and Kakashi wove a barrier to trap them. She sighed, touching her forehead gently. "I wish I could remember him. He at least seems worth knowing."

The red chakra wavered slightly, causing Hinata to glower at her. "Don't think you can change our path. We've joined with Orochimaru now. We'll get revenge on all of you that hurt us in the past."

Tilting her head, Sakura grinned. "Whoever said I wanted to bring you back? You seem like a right botch to me. Even worse than Ino-pig." Ignoring the unfamiliar name that had just rolled off her tongue from her subconscious, she continued, images flashing through her mind. "Really, I don't remember much about you at all, but I think I liked you better as you were. As you are now, I think I'd rather marry Neji-sama rather than talk to you all day."

That was it – Sakura knew it the moment she said Neji's name. Though she was only dimly aware of who the boy was, mention of him transformed the dark-haired girl's countenance from disdain to murderous. That was just fine with Sakura. Now that she knew what button to press, it would be easy to make the girl loose control. She smirked. "Do you hate him? I thought it was the other way around – he did try to kill you – but maybe I was wrong." She shook her head, keeping her face impassive with only a hint of amusement on it. It wouldn't be any good to let Hinata know that she had no idea what she was talking about. All she had to go on was the image of her standing, ready for battle followed by her laying on the floor almost dead, Neji standing above her looking ready to kill.

Sasuke watched with a slight feeling of awe as Sakura pressed the issue, drawing as much as she could from a mixture of whatever few memories she had and Hinata's reaction. Once he even saw Naruto signal to her with a shake of his head that she was going in the wrong direction and needed to get back on track. The black-haired boy smirked. This was why Sakura was useful – she was smart, and that intelligence could be used to drive their opponents into a blind rage. It was no problem to deal with people in that state of mind.

Yes, he decided, raising the barriers, Sakura was definitely useful. He'd take her with him when he went to Orochimaru. She had to remember how to help him someday, and when she did, he wanted to be there with her. Then they could go together and both kill his brother and rebuild the Uchiha clan as was his duty. He grinned, completing the hand seals with only a slight flicker of the seal on his neck appearing. It was almost time.

Author's Note: I ask again for a beta, and point to the above for example. However, I do smirk as I realize that I have begun with the parts that will make your eyes burn, although you won't realize that they should be burning until much later, if ever. I now laugh evilly, ignoring how annoying it is that I must write things this way as I cannot trust this site to keep my stars when I write action. Now I shall continue laughing. Evilly. Bwahahahahahahahahaha!


	12. XII

Naruto ground his teeth in an attempt to hold back pain that always accompanied letting the Kyuubi's power out to such an extent without loosing control. If he could just hold on for a few more seconds, Sakura would be finished doing whatever it was she was attempting, and they could all go home. Maybe once there, Tsunade could fix whatever was wrong with Hinata. She'd gone with him to Orochimaru, who had been more than glad to have her. What happened next, he wasn't sure. They'd lasted three years pretending to be on Orochimaru's side, and as far as Naruto knew, the snake-bastard never suspected a thing. Hinata grew a little more self-confident as their friendship became stronger from the hours they were forced to spend together. Then . . . she was different.

Late at night, when no one was around to watch them, Naruto and Hinata had talked. Sometimes they reflected on the awful things they knew were going on outside of the village Orochimaru was holding them at. They both agreed that destroying the Sound would be necessary once they retrieved Sakura. Naruto smiled for a second. They'd also talked about themselves – about their families or lack thereof.

Apparently, the only reason Hinata'd been able to work up the courage to follow Naruto was Neji. The bastard had defeated Hinata again at training. Although Naruto suspected that it was just that the older boy'd been having a bad day, it didn't change the fact that rather than simply walk away like he normally did, that time he continued. Even though Hinata was completely out of chakra, her cousin had continued his assault. Feeling he was trying to kill her again, Hinata had run and ended up with him.

Naruto thought she'd overreacted.

She was his friend, of course – sometimes he thought they might be a little more than friends, in fact. That didn't change his opinion though. She'd been scared, and had every right to have been, but it would have done her more good to stay and confront those fears than go to Orochimaru. Naruto winced as the once quiet girl burst out screaming, ending the tirade with a blow that disabled Sakura's left arm. He definitely shouldn't have taken her with him to the Sound. Somehow that snake bastard managed to convince her that Neji was the most evil entity on earth. More recently, Naruto'd begun thinking that Hinata was dead, and the girl he traveled with was just Orochimaru pretending to be her.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke, risking giving away what her teammates were doing. She couldn't keep taunting the other girl forever, and she was beginning to get the feeling that something was wrong. Hinata was not like this. With every attack delivered by the dark-haired girl, the thought grew in Sakura's mind that Hinata should have been an unassuming genin who would never even think of treating another like this – even if they were the enemy.

Naruto noticed the look and turned to see who she was looking at. His eyes narrowed. Why did Sasuke always have to be at the center of everything? A yelp drew his attention back to Hinata, who'd just hit Sakura in the forehead. Hinata started laughing. Almost immediately, a strange green haze filled the air, just barely tingeing the color of his surroundings. What the hell? The blonde-haired boy checked Hinata, but she seemed as lost as he was. A quick turn of the head proved that even Kakashi was at a loss. The only ones who seemed to have any semblance of understanding were Itachi and Sasuke, whose expressions were so eerily similar that Naruto wondered, just for a moment, how two people so alike could possibly hate each other so much. Then Sakura's hair turned blood-red and he didn't have time to question it any longer.

Hinata's eyes widened at the sudden amounts of power pouring out of the girl in front of her. She'd closed all sixty-four chakra holes throughout the conversation, carefully pretending that she was just responding to Sakura's attempts at riling her up. Yet somehow, with that last one, the green-eyed kunoichi'd turned into something else. She glanced at Naruto, brow furrowing. Suddenly inspiration hit, and she knew what was happening, if not why. She and Naruto practiced from time to time, but Naruto never seemed to have any trouble with her fighting technique. Now someone else reacted in the same way – by producing more power than ever. Hinata smirked. So Sakura was a demon as well. That explained quite a bit of the Hyuuga's questions, though why the tap to the forehead had caused it all. Naruto'd never needed her to close all sixty-four holes. She shrugged. Demons she understood. Laughing quietly, she gathered her chakra together in a tight shell around her.

Almost immediately after releasing the demon, Sakura shot forward, extending a flame of chakra out, watching in satisfaction as it shot through the black-haired genin. In a puff of smoke, the clone disappeared as the original attacked Itachi. Sakura followed, ignoring Naruto. The boy stared. Sakura was moving even faster than the time at the valley of the end. She was moving with Sasuke. The two of them were approaching Hinata at speeds even the young heiress couldn't approach. His eyes narrowed. He could though – he could easily match and overcome even those speeds. They were planning on killing Hinata.

Author's Note: Yeah yeah. I just suddenly dropped two pages. Sorry – there's just no other place to end this chapter. On the up-side, this entire fic will finish at thirteen chapters. Have fun with the next chapter. Ja


	13. XIII

The figure walked, staggering slightly, towards the gates of Konoha. Blood drenched his clawed hands, golden hair, tanned skin. It wasn't fair, he thought to himself, grimacing a little from the pain. Most of the crimson stain wasn't his, but enough of it was that he didn't want anything more. No more fighting, no more enemies, no more faceless men to kill. He'd had enough. But life was never fair for him, never gave him what he wanted. Never. And he'd done so much, tried so hard...But perhaps now they would see. They would all see, and acknowledge him. He'd make them acknowledge him, no matter what the cost.

As he stood before the gates of the city, two people appeared in a puff of smoke behind him. The figure tensed, all weariness forgotten. At last! They'd decided to show themselves! He'd waited years for this, training and fighting and clawing his way to the top, for this. To fight him. But her...he couldn't hurt her. No matter what she'd done, no matter how much she'd hurt him. He still loved her.

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Kunai clashed as Naruto blocked both Sakura and Sasuke's attack. Sakura's eyes widened. "Naruto?" she asked, voice trembling with not only shock and confusion, but with the rage the demon brought forth. She stepped back, in unison with Sasuke, and attacked again, from a different angle.

Itachi and Kakashi closed in on him, leaving the other two to fight Hinata without being hampered by his blocks. Naruto's eyes narrowed, and he released the Kyuubi.

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"Sakura." He called. "Please. Step aside. This is...no business of yours. I don't want to hurt you. Please."

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It was Sakura's blade that plunged through Hinata's chest, only just missing the heart. She'd live, but only if Naruto got to her quickly. He tossed aside Itachi easily, the man's broken body falling before Sasuke, and strode over to the one person who knew everything about him and would never leave him.

Despite the Kyuubi's urging for him to just kill the other two, he couldn't. Sakura was like him. She understood the one thing Hinata couldn't. He pressed his lips to the pale girl's forehead and checked her pulse. She was fine for the moment. The blonde looked up at Sakura pleadingly. "Sakura, come back with me."

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But when she did move, it wasn't to retreat. She joined hands with the other man, gazed into his eyes. Whatever she saw in them was enough, and she turned back to the bloody figure.

"I made my decision a long time ago, Naruto. I still stand by my choice."

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Sakura's eyes were cold. Without even looking away as she betrayed her teammate, she stepped closer to Sasuke. Only then did she close her eyes, bowing her head slightly. "No Naruto. I – I'll stay with Sasuke to the end, no matter what. I don't go back on my word," she whispered, hand entwined with the Uchiha's. The boy was still staring at his brother's body. At the contact, however, his gaze slowly lifted to meet first hers, then Naruto's. His expression was perfectly blank, as if he couldn't figure out which he should be feeling for the man he'd tried to kill so many times.

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It hurt, still, again, as much as it did on the first day, the first minute, like a punch in the gut and a knife in the heart.

"So be it then." Naruto cried, drawing his kunai, but paused as the other man stepped forward, hands out, palms up.

"Naruto. Wait."

"Like you ever waited for anything, you bastard!" Naruto hissed, but lowered his kunai.

"In the name of...what we once had, I beg you. Please, don't do this."

Naruto sighed. Why was it so hard to kill them? They weren't his team-mates anymore. They were enemies, they had done so many things against him and his village, he had orders to kill them immediately, but still...No. He had to. Orders were orders. He had to...

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"And where is that, Sasuke?" asked Hinata, her voice weak and raspy. "Where is it that you will lead her?"

The boy's eyes narrowed. With an almost inaudible gasp he clutched his shoulder, glaring at her as hard as he could through the pain. "Where I'll become strongest."

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"I'm sorry Sasuke. I can't. You know as well as I do what the mark we wear means. What it stands for, for the promise we made, even if you broke yours. Even if you turned your back on it, even though you hide it, you know what I mean. I have to do this."

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Sakura bit her lip, looking hopeful. "Are you really with Orochimaru now?"

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"Then there's no turning back, then is there?" Said Sasuke, sadly, seeming almost to slump in his black robe. Sakura, equally sadly, reached out and stroked his chin, before plunging her hands inside the folds of her own black robe and sending a hail of kunai launching towards Naruto.

He cursed, forcing his body aside almost too late, barely managing to dodge each attack. Just how much blood on him really was his? He didn't want to know. Time for a little more. He viciously sliced open his thumb with his extended canines, almost enjoying their razor sharpness, the tang of the blood that made his heart race. No time for that, now. He flipped through the hand signs as quickly as he could, and rammed his hand down on the ground, forcing out most of the remaining chakra he posessed. How much time did he have? How much energy? He was almost out, and they were barely started.

Dodging a ball of fire, Naruto grabbed on to the red shoulder of his summons, ridding it up and up as it spiraled out of nowhere.

"Hold on tight, kid!" It roared, rearing back, as eager for this fight as he was. "It's time for some action!"

"Get them!" Naruto roared back, balancing easily on its broad head from years of familiarity. But as the enormous creature prepared to leap forwards on to the two figures below, two huge serpents spiraled up from the ground, black and crimson, wrapping Naruto's creature tightly.

But as it thrashed and roared, furiously fending off the snake's poisoned fangs with its fore-arms, Naruto remained steady, leaving behind a doppelganger to stay on the head as he ran along its wide back and easily flung himself into the air, to land neatly on the midnight-dark snake's neck. That was one thing to say for summons: they certainly taught you to keep your balance.

Racing up the slick scales, he tackled Sasuke from behind, slicing his back open with a kunai. It wasn't a fatal cut, but the poison could do the rest. Dodging the counter-attack, he added another slice on the wrist, feeling his battle-lust rise again painting the whole world red behind a fog of blood, a gift from the demon fox.

"I have you now, you bastard!" He screamed, voice barely human, as the snake underneath began to dematerialize. Lunging once more with the knife he was dimly aware of the white hot needles in his left arm, the fireballs launching into his chest, the kunais, probably poisoned as well, being sunk, one after the other, by a frantic and dying Sasuke. The ecstasy of movement and blood and attack had wrapped him up, the demon's song screaming in his ears, and all that mattered was his enemy, struggling like a little mouse. At last, at last...

The black snake gave a final shudder underneath them and disappeared as its master lost the strength to maintain it, poison slowly invading his brain. The two men fell, tumbling through the air, and landed. Except that one of them landed wrong. There was a snap, and Sasuke lay crumpled on the ground before Naruto, spine fractured, paralyzed from the waist down. Naruto grinned, still riding high on battle-rush and walked over to his gasping enemy. "It's over, Sasuke." He growled, still grinning, placing his foot on the other man's temple, pressing down until he heard a creak and an agonized scream, ignoring the feebly clawing hands. "Time to pay back all the pain you gave to us."

"Naruto..." Sasuke gasped, "Please..." Those were his final words, as Naruto leaned all his weight on the man's scull, shattering his mask and obscuring the swirled ANBU tattoo on his shoulder with a wash of scarlet.

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Sasuke pulled out a kunai. "I don't want to kill you, Naruto."

Naruto laughed, a sharp barking noise. "Since when have you cared? I thought that killing me was your ultimate goal, Sasuke-_kun_." He poured more energy into Hinata, trying to make her strong enough for travel. He didn't have time to both heal her and fight them. He'd have to finish these two off another day. He stood. "Goodbye Sakura. Hope that you don't see me again."

Sakura scowled, but let him go. Hand still gripping Sasuke's, she turned and began walking. Sasuke let her lead, saying nothing when they ended up at Konoha's gates.

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He heard a faint wail as his summons crunched his fangs down on Sakura. He felt a little bad, still, but she'd made her choice. That was what happened to traitors. Feeling the creature walk up behind him he stroked the enormous muzzle, the broody fangs. Climbing up between its ears, he let out a final scream of victory, the tri-circled curse mark on his shoulder blazing inky swirls along his body.

"Shall we go, kid?" His summons asked, flexing his claws and whisking a few of its tails.

"Let's go, Kyuubi. Orochimaru'll be pleased."

The young man and the nine-tailed demon fox beneath him roared their triumph once again as they crashed through the gates of Konoha, soon to be the Second Village of the Sound.

Behind him, Sakura blinked wearily, pushing her hair out of her face as her wounds healed a thousand times faster than even Naruto's would. Licking her lips, she crawled over to Sasuke's remains, grimacing at the extent of the injury. If it weren't for the scent of his blood, she wouldn't even be able to tell that the corpse had at one point belonged to Sasuke. Closing her eyes in concentration, she slit her wrists. The blood from the poured down on Sasuke's body, hissing slightly as her chakra forced it into his veins, replacing what little blood he still held within him.

For several minutes, she sat watching her partner's body, hoping she was right. Nothing happened. Tears of frustration clouded her vision. Reluctantly, she climbed to her feet and turned away, searching for a warm body to regain her strength with. The first one came quickly, not surprisingly a sound-nin come to check Naruto's handiwork. She snapped his neck quickly without ordeal and sank her teeth into the soft flesh.

From behind her came a gurgling sucking noise, the sound of someone drowning in their own blood. Eyes widening, she dropped the body and spun around. Almost as quickly, she turned aside once more and threw up. Sasuke's body was breathing once more, but the head was still gone. She wavered. Sakura'd never wanted to be doing this. Her gaze hardened. Whether or not she'd wanted to do it, she was the only one left. This was her job. Four long strides brought her back to Sasuke's body. Fingers tingling with chakra, she reached into the mass, gathering it together.

Her eyes remained shut tight for most of the operation. She'd practiced restoring body parts from scattered remains numerous times, but never a head. She could only hope that the process was similar.

Once finished, she opened her eyes and released the chakra that'd been guiding her hands in their work. A black aura danced around her partner, sealing wounds and reforming his face. Once he was all in one piece, although hardly human in appearance, she lifted him and ran. Naturo would pass through again at some point. She didn't want to be there when it happened.

Epilouge

"Mommy?"

The pink-haired girl nodded, smiling brightly at her daughter. Across the room, Sasuke 'hmph'-ed good-naturedly at their child's name for Sakura. It didn't suit her, but it made her happy enough, so he let it pass. Their daughter, the first daughter of two demons, was important. For her, he'd let most anything pass.

"Mommy, there were a buncha people in the woods today. They were lookin real hard for something. There was a real scary looking guy with them. He had long black hair." The girl frowned, expression one of pure disgust. "He was kissing uncle Kyuubi."

Sakura glanced at her husband knowingly. Their daughter had the unique ability to see through illusions – most likely a byproduct of her father's blood – to the point where she didn't even register that the illusion was there in the first place. Sasuke returned the look, features also contorted in that look of revulsion that only such an image could elicit. Still. . . . He nodded, and stood.

Sakura rose as well, smiling at their daughter. "Ayame, honey. Stay here. We'll be back in a while."

Uchiha Ayame nodded. They'd come back. They always did.

Author's Note: In case you were wondering, the reason they knew about Orochimaru is that the man has a rather distinctive laugh. In the manga, that laugh bugs the crap out of me, but...

There. I've done it. I've scarred my brain and everything. In anycase, in case you couldn't tell (I did try to blend my writing style in,) the beginning is mostly Red Crow's (formerly Crow-sensei) Against Them. Long ago I asked if I could use the fic for something I wanted to write, and here it is. It's been fun writing this, and once I become a better writer I'll revamp it. For now though, that's all. I hope you enjoyed reading it.

If you ever see a book by Yvonne Lee called Eclipse, look for this story in it. You'll have to search, as it won't be in fanfiction form, but it's definitely going to appear somewhere in Book Three of Eclipse.


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